The number of recorded crimes in Japan continued to fall in 2017, hitting a record low of 915,111 on the back of a sharp drop in thefts, preliminary police data showed Thursday.

The overall number of cases has consistently declined in Japan after hitting a peak of 2.85 million in 2002, with the government stepping up efforts to tackle crime by boosting police numbers and widening the use of security cameras.

In 2016 the figure dropped below the 1 million mark for the first time since the end of World War II, to 996,120.