CANBERRA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The total number of recorded sexual assault victims in Australia reached an eight-year high in 2017, according to government data.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its annual figures on Thursday evening which showed the number of sexual assault incidents in 2017 increased by 8 percent from the previous year, bringing the total to its highest since 2010.

According to the data, four in five of the sexual assault victims were female, 82 percent of the 20,556 recorded assaults.

"This is the sixth consecutive annual increase in the number of victims recorded for this offence and the highest number recorded since the time series began in 2010," ABS Director of Crime and Justice Statistics William Milne said in a statement on Thursday.

"Recording of female victims of sexual assault increased by 9 percent since last year which was also the largest annual increase since 2010."

Last year saw 8,409 victims of family and domestic violence-related sexual assault, which equated to around a third of all victims across the nation over the same period.

The highest increase in sexual assault victims occurred in Victoria (13 percent), followed by New South Wales (12 percent) and Queensland (9 percent).

Western Australia had the biggest decrease in the number of sexual assaults with 12 percent, closely followed by Tasmania (down 10 percent) and the Australian Capital Territory (down 9 percent).

While sexual assaults in Australia were at an eight-year high, the government data showed a decrease in crimes such as homicide, robbery and burglary since 2010.

Total murders or attempted murders across the country were down 10 percent to 414 victims, robbery was down 34 percent -- a total of 9,599 recorded by the police -- and there were 176,153 incidents of burglary last year, a 15 percent decrease since 2010.