Crime against children dropped by 9.3 percent last year, making this one of the few areas where police achieved their crime reduction target, according to statistics released on Tuesday.

The police's annual report showed that child killings dropped 16 percent to 843 cases in 2008 to 2009, and sexual offences against minors decreased by nine percent to 20 141 reported cases.

Cases of common assault of children and assault with grievous bodily harm decreased respectively by 9.6 and 8.8 percent.

"All the categories of crimes against children depict decreases in excess of eight percent, which clearly fall within the seven to ten percent reduction target with regard to the incidence of contact crime," the report stated.

However, the report also showed that only a fifth of all crimes against children reported last year were solved.

The conviction rate for murder cases was 11 percent, for common assault 36 percent and for sexual offences 10.7 percent.

Crimes against women, with the exception of 30 124 reported sexual offences, decreased by 3.4 percent.

A total of 2436 women were murdered last year ? a third of them in the context of domestic abuse. It marks a decrease of 4.2 percent compared to reported cases the previous year.

Another 152 898 women were victims of assault.

The police have set a target of reducing all forms of contact crime by at least seven percent every year.

Releasing the annual crime figures on Tuesday, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said a 10 percent increase in sexual offences was one of the most worrying aspects of the statistics, but was partly to blame on a law change that broadened the definition of sex crimes to include, for example, male rape.

Mthethwa said "the psychology of patriarchal power relations and inconsiderate attitudes towards vulnerable members of society, especially children" were among the factors that continue to drive the country's high crime rate.

A total of 2.1 million serious crimes were reported to police last year.