The recorded murder rate has dropped by almost 50 per cent in the last year - the lowest since fiscal year reporting began in 1986, according to figures released by police today.
There were 34 murders recorded in the last year, compared to 65 the year before. Of those, 20 were recorded as being family violence related - down from 35 in the previous year.
Overall, recorded crime in New Zealand has dropped by 5.8 per cent in the same period.
There were 416,324 total recorded offences from July 1 last year through to June 30 this year, a decrease of 25,636.
The largest decreases were in Canterbury (-14.6 percent), Southern (-10.3 percent), Tasman (-8.4 percent), Central (-6.7 percent) and Waitemata (-6.1 percent).