And the robbery rate was down to 161.5 from 181.5 in the same period.

In determining the average annual overall robbery rate, the researchers found that 7 of every 1,000 people over 12 years old were the victims of a robbery attempt.

The robbery rate is 250 times greater in New York than Tokyo.

This is about 6 times higher than Canada's robbery rate during the entire 2008 (96.9).

Police say robbery rates often increase during the Chinese Lunar New Year period - the nation's main holiday - as people carry more money on them than usual.

In mid-August, the police announced that their new patrol strategy had cut the armed robbery rate.

But even controlling for those factors, the study said, the robbery rate for Hispanic Americans was still higher than for other Americans.

At first the news sounds hopeful: From 1973 through 1984, the national robbery rate declined by 15 percent.

Their robbery rates showed a similar pattern.

The national robbery rate for that year dropped by 1.8 percent from 2001.