Homicide rate in China is one of the lowest in the world, said the country's top security chief.

"The homicide rate in China in 2016 was 0.62 per 100,000 residents, better than most countries in the world," said Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, during a national conference in Beijing.

There were a 43 percent decline in severe violent crimes and a 56 percent slip in major and fatal road traffic accidents last year, compared with 2012, Meng said.

People's satisfaction in public security rose from 87.55 percent in 2012 to 91.99 percent in 2016, Meng said, pointing out that it takes a lot of effort to keep the crime rate down in such a huge country with such a big population.

Meng noted that economic crimes are becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect. Many of the crimes, such as commercial fraud, pyramid schemes, and invasion of privacy, are committed over the Internet, posing new challenges to social governance.

He urged the country's public security departments to innovate and upgrade their ways of working, so as to guarantee public security in a more comprehensive and coordinated manner.