NEW YORK CITY (AFP) - The murder rate in New York fell by a quarter over the first half of 2013, compared to the year before - which already recorded the lowest number of murders in half a century, police said on Wednesday.

A total of 155 murders were committed between January and June 2013, compared to 206 during the same period of 2012 - a decrease of 25.4 per cent, according to the most recent statistics.

If this trend continues through the end of the year, the murder rate could fall to 3.8 per 100,000 New Yorkers.

In 1960, the murder rate was 5.0 per 100,000, but it rose over the next 30 years, peaking at 30 homicides per 100,000 residents in 1990. That year, 2,262 people were murdered, according to police statistics.

In 2012, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg congratulated the city and his administration for achieving the lowest murder rate - 419 over 12 months - in 50 years.