More than a million people sought asylum in the European Union in 2016, the second consecutive year that the number has reached seven figures.

Official data shows that 1,204,300 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in EU member states last year - equivalent to more than 3,000 every day.

In the latest indication of the scale of the international migration crisis, the tally is around double the level seen in 2014, when it stood at just over half a million.

Last year's total was down slightly on 2015, when it reached 1,257,000.

The figures, published by the EU's data agency Eurostat, showed that three in five of all the claims lodged in the bloc in 2016 were made in Germany, with 722,300 first-time applicants registered in the country.

It was followed by Italy (121,200, or 10%), France (76,000, or 6%), Greece (49,900, or 4%) and Austria (39,900, or 3%). The UK had the sixth highest number, with 38,290, or 3% of the total.

Among member states with more than 5,000 new asylum seekers in 2016, numbers rose most compared with the previous year in Greece, Germany and Italy.

The sharpest falls were seen in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria.

There was a slight fall, of 4% year-on-year, in the number registered in the UK, according to the figures.

Syrians accounted for the largest number of first-time applicants, with more than a third of a million, followed by Afghans (183,000) and Iraqis (127, 000).

More than four in five of the asylum seekers were less than 35-years-old, while more men than women sought asylum.

Statisticians added that more than a million asylum applications were still under consideration by national authorities around the continent at the end of 2016.