Brooklyn remains the city�s bloodiest borough � accounting for about 38% of last year�s murders, NYPD statistics released Friday show.

In delivering an analysis of last year�s homicides, the NYPD revealed that there have been 136 murders this year � a reduction of 20% from the same period last year. But shootings are up 6% this year.

Of the 515 homicides last year, about 196 occurred in Brooklyn, mostly in a cluster of neighborhoods that include Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and East New York.

The borough�s numbers are down slightly from 2010, when Brooklyn topped the charts with 42% of the city�s 536 murders.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday that a host of tactics � including a partnership with local clergy to host gun buyback programs � has been used to combat crime in the borough.

�Due in part to this relationship, murders in Brooklyn North fell by 13% last year, more than three times the citywide rate of decline,� Kelly said.

The Bronx logged about 29% of last year�s murders � slightly less than Manhattan and Queens combined, the report shows. Only 3% of the slayings were committed on Staten Island.

The report also shows a significant racial disparity in the killings.

About 62% of all victims were black, although that demographic makes up about 23% of the city�s population, the report shows.

About 38% of murder victims were black men between 16 and 37 years old, the stats show.

The records also show that nearly 75% of all victims had prior arrests and about 11% were confirmed gang members.

One in five homicide victims were women, 54% of them killed in domestic violence incidents, stats show.

(Source: NY Daily News)