Seoul, Apr 28 (IANS): South Korea's crime rate fell to the lowest level in a decade in 2021, although offences in the cyber domain shot up amid the Covid-19 pandemic, data revealed on Friday.

Asia's No. 4 economy reported 1,774 cases of criminal violations per 100,000 people in 2021, down 12 per cent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The number of murders reached 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, down 18 per cent on-year, Yonhap News Agency reported citing the data.

Those for violence and theft fell 16 per cent and 7.2 per cent, respectively, to 231 and 322 per 100,000.

In contrast, the figure for rapes came to 63.6 in 2021, up 9.4 per cent over the period.

The total number of crimes in the cyber domain came to 217,807 in 2021, down 6.9 per cent on-year.

The figure, however, marked a 20 per cent rise from 2019, just before the pandemic began.

Per 100,000 children, 502.2 experienced abuse, marking a sharp rise from just 401.6 tallied in 2020.

The figure is based on the number of reports filed to authorities, reflecting the rising awareness of such violence in society.

The number of suicides in South Korea came to 26 per 100,000 people, maintaining a consecutive on-year growth since 2017.

Those for males came to 35.9, more than double of 16.2 tallied for females.