PRETORIA, South Africa (AP):

Crime rates in South Africa, among the highest in the world, are declining with fewer robberies, rapes and murders reported in the last year, police said yesterday.

But there are still more than 50 people killed every day, a statistic that has helped the country earn an international reputation for violence.

And the number of children murdered went up by 22.2 per cent, police said.

The government welcomed the overall declines, but said crime levels were still much too high as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

"The government is still concerned that, while they are going down, the levels of crime continue to be unacceptably high," Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said.

Police said crime statistics from April 2007 to March 2008 show the number of murders dropped 4.7 percent to 18,487, compared with the previous year.

Incidents of rape in the same period decreased 8.8 per cent, but this still amounted to a staggering 36,000 women raped.

Nqakula said that the number, even if less than in the last year, was still too high to indicate that the "scourge is lessening".

"The government would have wanted to see a more drastic decrease" in crime rates, the minister said.

The number of children murdered went up 22.2 percent, from 1,152 to 1,410, said Chris de Kock, head of crime information management for the police.

Most of those victims were aged 16-18 and were killed by other children, often in gang-related situations, he said.

This is "a very, very serious issue," Kock said, noting that the number of attempted murders against children also increased by 13.7 per cent.

Figures show that the murder level is at its lowest since 1994 and serious violent crimes such as robbery, assault and attempted murder decreased by 6.4 percent.