Washington, Oct 26 (IANS): Seven in 10 Americans say there is more crime in the US now than there was 12 months ago, a recent Gallup poll said.

The percentage of Americans who hold the perception of rising crime rose by seven points compared to 63 percent who said so in 2014, Xinhua reported on Monday citing the poll.

Only 18 percent say there is less crime and another eight percent say the level of crime has stayed the same, according to Gallup.

Meanwhile, almost six in 10 Americans in 2015 say that crime is an "extremely" or "very" serious problem in the US, the second highest level in similar surveys conducted from 2000 to 2015, said Gallup.

Another 35 percent of Americans say the problem is "moderately" serious, the survey showed.

It was not the first time Gallup found that the US public perception of crime rate got worsened compared with the previous year.

However, Gallup said American's perception of crime are not always at par with reality.

According to Gallup, though government data over the past two decades had pointed to declining violent crime rates, majority of Americans surveyed by Gallup still believed that crime had increased nationwide.

Government data on actual crime rates in 2015 will be released next year.