ROME, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Italy was second in the European Union (EU) in terms of asylum requests received in 2017, latest data from the EU statistical office showed on Tuesday.

Overall, a total of 649,855 people applied for the first time for asylum or international protection to one of the EU member states last year, according to Eurostat.

It's a considerable drop from over 1.2 million requests in 2016, and especially from the peak of nearly 1.26 million applications in 2015.

Germany and Italy were the top countries for the number of first-time applicants: they received 198,300 requests (31 percent) and 126,600 requests (20 percent) respectively, Eurostat said in a statement.

France would follow with 91,100 first-time applications (14 percent), then Greece with 57,000 (9 percent), the Britain with 33,300 (5 percent) and Spain with 30,400 (5 percent).

The distribution of the requests within the bloc changed sensibly last year compared with 2016, data also showed. First-time applications increased in Spain (by 96 percent), France (19 percent), Greece (14 percent), and Italy (4 percent).

By contrast, "the largest relative decreases were recorded in Germany (-73 percent), Austria (-44 percent), the Netherlands (-17 percent) and the United Kingdom (-15 percent)," Eurostat said.

Considering overall figures, Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans continued to represent the most of the asylum seekers in the EU, accounting for at least 30 percent of all first-time applicants.

As for Italy, the country's Interior Ministry stated the highest number of asylum requests came from Nigerian citizens, which also represented the fourth largest group of applicants within the EU.

Italy has witnessed a significant decrease in the number of migrant and asylum seeker arrivals since mid-2017, after striking a deal with Libyan authorities and factions to curb departures from the Libyan shores.

Humanitarian groups and associations at domestic and global level deemed the agreement controversial, since it would leave hundreds of thousands of destitute people in the hands of traffickers and armed factions in Libya.

In the period between Jan. 1 and March 20, 2018, a total of 6,161 people were registered in Italy, of which 4,399 departing from the Libyan coasts. Arrivals in the same period had been 18,232 in 2017 and 13,825 in 2016, which marked a 55.44 percent and 66.21 percent drop, respectively, according to the Interior Ministry.

Since the closure of the so-called migrant Balkan route in spring 2016, Italy, along with Greece, has become a major entry point for people headed to Europe from northern African coasts.

The country registered 119,369 arrivals overall last year, and 181,436 in 2016.