People's sense of security has been significantly improved over the past decade, and China has been recognized as one of the safest countries in the world, a senior public security official said on Wednesday.

China has one of the lowest homicide rates — 0.5 cases per 100,000 people — one of the lowest crime rates and it is among the nations with the fewest gun-related cases in the world, Xu Ganlu, vice-minister of the Ministry of Public Security, said at news conference on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Compared with 2012, the number of cases involving eight major crimes, including homicide and rape, decreased 64 percent in 2021, according to statistics.

Furthermore, the number of drug-related cases declined 56.8 percent; the number of robbery cases fell 96 percent; the number of theft cases decreased 62 percent; and the number of traffic accidents with more than three casualties at one accident dropped 59.3 percent, all during the same period.

"People's sense of security has been significantly improved. According to the surveys conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, the sense of security reached 98.6 in 2021, up 11 percentage points from 2012," he said.

While creating a safe and stable social environment for economic development, public security organs nationwide have adhered to a people-centered development philosophy and have taken the initiative to reform public security management, household registration management, entry-exit management and other aspects closely related to public life.

The time for the approval and issuance of 60 administrative licenses has been greatly shortened, and various policies and measures have facilitated study, work and production for people and enterprises, he said.

In the past five years, these policies have saved people about 220 billion yuan ($30.5 billion), according to Xu.

While safeguarding national security and maintaining social stability, law enforcement agencies have made great sacrifices. In the past 10 years, 3,799 policemen died and more than 50,000 policemen were wounded in the line of duty, he added.