Crime in Canada has dropped to its lowest point since 1969, Statistics Canada reports.

As part of its new Megatrends series, StatsCan crunched the numbers for its crime reports since 1962 and found a distinct pattern: From 1962 to 1991, the crime rate increased steadily. After that, it started to decline.

And in 2013, police-reported crime fell to a level not seen in a half-century.

Why? Several factors are strong candidates to explain the trend, StatsCan says: aging population, changing police practices and strategies, the rise of technology, the shift in unemployment, changing attitudes toward illegal and risky behaviour, a change in alcohol consumption.

All types of crime are down, StatsCan says. Property crime is still the most common in Canada, but in 2013 it plunged to a level nearly equal to other crimes.

Homicide rates in Canada peaked in 1975 and have been on a jagged-line decline since, to the point where it’s at its lowest level since 1966. The attempted-murder rate is down to its lowest point since 1971.

The Megatrends analysis also charted what social factors affect which crimes.

Changes in the inflation rate most affect crime “that is financially motivated (robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft),” StatsCan says, quoting the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

The homicide rate correlates with changes in alcohol consumption and unemployment.

Demographics — changes in the population’s age and gender — influence the rate of break-and-enter crimes.

Homicide in Canada in 2013 represented less than 1 per cent of all violent crime, StatsCan says: 505 killings, 38 fewer than in 2012.