Campaigners and left-wing MPs have previously blasted the government for doing little to help refugees who they insisted were mainly coming from Syria.
But out of the astonishing 213,000 arrivals the EU logged between April and June, only 44,000 were fleeing the war-torn state.
Sceptics criticised campaigners over the revelation, accusing them of selling a lie about the number of people trying to escape the conflict.
Conservative MP David Davies claimed the new figures published by Eurostat reveal “the lie peddled in some quarters that vast numbers of those reaching Europe are from Syria”.
Mr Davies said: “Most people who are escaping the war will go to camps in Lebanon or Jordan.
“Many of those who have opted to risk their lives to come to Europe have done so for economic reasons.”
According to the figures migration for the three months was double the level of the same period last year.
They show that the number of Afghans trying to claim asylum has rocketed from 6,300 to 27,000 – while another 17,700 claims were made by Albanians, whose country is not at war.
