It is reportedly the sharpest year-on-year drop in over 25 years, with officials saying "we have not recorded such a large decline" since 1993.
Migrants are often blamed for increased crime rates, despite the Federal Criminal Police's reporting that foreigners are less likely than native-born Germans to commit every category of crime.
The report found:
There were 5.76 million crimes reported in 2017, 9.6 percent fewer than in 2016.
About one-third of all crimes were theft offenses, dropping by 11.8 percent.
Shoplifting decreased by 6.6 percent, to 353,384 cases, and pickpocketing by 22.7 percent, to 127,376.
33,263 cars and 300,006 bicycles were stolen — down 8.6 and 9.8 percent, respectively.
Burglaries fell 23 percent, to 116,540 cases, although 80 percent of burglaries are still not solved.
Violent crime declined by 2.4 percent, to 188,946 cases, of which 137,058 involved serious bodily injury.
Murders increased by 3.2 percent, to 785 cases.
Drug offenses rose 9.2 percent, to 330,580 cases.
Child pornography cases rose 14.5 percent, to 6,512 cases.
The number of non-German suspects fell 22.8 percent, to 736,265.
dw.com