A new report by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that drinking is a popular past time for Americans in general and young adults in particular.

Researchers found that 52 percent of 137,436 Americans interviewed in 2008 and 2009 consume alcohol.

Nearly a quarter of respondents admitted to binge drinking, with 23.5 percent saying they did so in the past month.

Researchers reported that North Dakota had the highest percentage of binge drinking.

For a woman, binge drinking means having four or more drinks at once, while for a man it's five of more drinks.

Drinking was most common among 18 to 25-year-olds.
    
New Hampshire has the youngest drinkers, according to the report. Three-quarters of young adults in that state say they have used alcohol in the past month.

Vermont, however, won the title for having the highest number of underage drinkers in the past month.

"We have been improving the stats around alcohol over a number of years, but we're still not where we want to be," said Peter Delany, director of the administration's Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality.