A total 1,204,000 people applied for political asylum in Europe last year, 53,000 few than in 2015, the European Union's statistics agency Eurostat said on Thursday.
Syrians were the largest group of asylum-seekers (334,800) in 2016 followed by Afghans (183,000) and Iraqis (127,000), Eurostat reported.
Most asylum requests (60%) were made in Germany, 10% in Italy, 6% in France, 4% in Greece and 3% in Austria, Eurostat said.
Overall asylum requests in Europe last year were almost twice the number made in 2014 (562,700), according to Eurostat.
