Violent crime and property crimes declined for the third year in a row in 2009, according to the FBI's report "Crime in the United States, 2009."

Violent crime fell an estimated 5.3 percent drop from 2008, while property crime fell for a seventh straight year with an estimated 4.6 percent decrease.

Some highlights from the 2009 crime report:

• Each of the violent crime categories decreased from 2008-murder (7.3 percent), robbery (8.0 percent), aggravated assault (4.2 percent), and forcible rape (2.6 percent).

• Each of the property crime categories also dropped from 2008-motor vehicle theft (17.1 percent), larceny-theft (4.0 percent), and burglary (1.3 percent).

• Among the 1,318,398 violent crimes were 15,241 murders; 88,097 forcible rapes; 408,217 robberies; and 806,843 aggravated assaults.

• Among the 9,320,971 property crimes were an estimated 2,199,125 burglaries; 6,327,230 larceny-thefts; 794,616 thefts of motor vehicles; and 58,871 arsons.

• During 2009, the South accounted for 42.5 percent of all violent crime in the nation, followed by the West (22.9 percent), the Midwest (19.6 percent), and the Northeast (15.0 percent).

• During 2009, 43.9 percent of all property crimes in the U.S. were recorded in the South, with 22.7 percent in the West, 20.8 percent in the Midwest, and 12.6 percent in the Northeast.

Additional report highlights on criminals and victims:

• In 2009, agencies nationwide made about 13.7 million arrests, excluding traffic violations. Of those arrests, an estimated 581,765 were for violent crimes.

• Nearly 75 percent of all arrested persons in the nation during 2009 were male. Slightly more than 77 percent of all murder victims were also male.

• Firearms were used in 67.1 percent of the nation's murders, along with 42.6 percent of robberies and 20.9 percent of aggravated assaults. (Weapons data is not collected for forcible rapes.)

• Collectively, victims of property crimes (excluding arson) lost an estimated $15.2 billion during 2009.

The data is compiled from the 17,985 city, county, university and college, state, tribal, and federal agencies who participated in the Uniform Crime Reporting program in 2009. These agencies represent 96.3 percent of the nation's population.

The report also contains crime by state in the State Totals table. 

This fall, the FBI will release the 2009 "Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted" and "Hate Crime Statistics" reports, which will be posted on the FBI website.

The FBI has been compiling and publishing the nation's crime data annually since taking over that duty in 1930 from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).