China has announced that it will cut down on annual executions and commute more death sentences but has no plans to abolish capital punishment, state media has said.

The China Daily newspaper report on Wednesday did not give any figures for current execution rates or reduction targets, except that death sentences would be limited to "an extremely small number" of serious offenders.

The high execution rate and the range of crimes that carry the death penalty – more than 60 offences including many non-violent and economic crimes – have drawn criticism from rights activists.

China is probably the world's most prolific state executioner, according to rights group Amnesty International, with at least 7,000 people sentenced to death and 1,718 people executed last year.

The newspaper quoted Zhang Jun, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, as saying that the number of executions will be reined in.

"As it is impossible for the country to abolish capital punishment under current realities and social security conditions, it is an important effort to strictly control the application of the penalty by judicial organs," he said.

"Judicial departments should use the least number of death sentences possible."

The paper said the court has been trying to hand down death sentences only to "those who have committed extremely serious or heinous crimes that lead to grave social consequences".

In January 2007, the Supreme People's Court regained the power of final approval of death penalties, which was devolved to provincial high courts in the 1980s, and promised to apply the ultimate punishment more carefully.