The number of sexual crimes in South Korea has more than doubled in the last decade despite the general decrease in the number of other violent offenses, a report showed Sunday.

According to the report released by the state-run Korean Institute of Criminology, the number of sex-related crimes increased from 13,631 in 2005 to 29,863 in 2014. The cases per 100,000 people also increased from 28.3 to 59.2 during the cited period.

The growth holds significance in that the number of violent crimes, which has always hovered over a thousand between 2005 and 2012, fell under the thousand mark with 966 in 2013 and recorded 938 the following year, it said.
The number of robberies, in particular, decreased by two thirds from 5,266 in 2005 to 1,618 in 2014, the report said.

The total number of crimes that occurred in the country slightly increased from some 1.86 million in 2005 to 1.93 million in 2014, according to the report.

"Unlike other crimes, the number of sex crimes has been increasing rapidly," Hwang Ji-tae, a researcher at the institute, said. "As the reporting rate of sex crimes is low, we can easily fall into traps by analyzing the crime tendency just based on the official numbers."

Meanwhile, the number of crimes committed by those in their 50s and 60s increased drastically in line with the overall aging of the population.

People aged 51 to 60 accounted for 14.4 percent of the total number of offenders who committed violent crimes in 2014. The number nearly doubled from just 7.5 in 2005, according to the report. The rate of those aged 61 or older also increased from 3.1 percent to 6.7 percent during the cited period.

The increase in crime among older people comes as the country continues to struggle with one of the world's lowest birth rates, while fast-improving medical technologies and services are pushing up the overall age of the population.

As of 2014, the ratio of people aged 65 years or older stood at 12.68 percent. A country is considered an aged society when the ratio reaches over 14 percent. (Yonhap)