The ACT has the lowest number of criminal offenders in Australia, with 2665 people convicted during 2014-15, which was an annual decrease of 13 per cent.
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According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, the number of male offenders fell by 10 per cent between 2013-14 and 2014-15.
The number of female offenders fell by 25 per cent during the same period, while the ACT continued to have the lowest proportion of repeat offenders in Australia.
But the ACT had the second highest proportion of youth offenders in Australia at 591, although this was a decrease of 24 per cent compared to 2013-14 figures.
The three most common crimes in Canberra were public order offences (24 per cent), acts to cause injury (20 per cent) and illicit drug offences (14 per cent).
ABS spokesman William Milne said the data revealed 79,070 offenders across the nation had a principal offence involving illicit drugs during 2014-15.
"Two-thirds of illicit drug offenders were charged with possession and/or using illicit drugs and a further 13 per cent for dealing or trafficking illicit drugs," he said.
"The number of youth offenders has decreased by 22 per cent since 2008-09, however offender rates are still highest for people aged 15 to 19 years, at 4834 offenders per 100,000 persons aged 15 to 19 years."
The data found those with a principal offence of illicit drugs increased in every state and territory during 2014-15, as it has every year since the introduction of national data in 2008-09.
Nationally, the total number of offenders increased by 2 per cent during 2014-15 to 411,686 people, although the number of offenders aged between 10 and 19 fell by 3 per cent.
The median age of offenders in Australia has increased from 25 years in 2008-9 to 28 years in 2014-15. The most common offence among youth in 2014-15 was theft, with 24,525 convicted of theft, or 29 per cent of the age group.
The data found the number of offenders aged 65 years or older increased by 12 per cent to 584 offenders during 2014-15, the largest change of all age groups.
In Canberra, court actions fell by 9 per cent, or 219 proceedings, during 2014-15. Acts intended to cause injury remain the most common offence at 26 per cent of all cases.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander age standardised offender rate was 4364 offenders per 100,000 people aged 10 years and over.
Non-court actions decreased by 23 per cent, or 350 proceedings. Public order offences counted for 47 per cent of all non-court actions during 2014-15.
