60% of Americans drink, survey finds

Just over 60% of US adults regularly drink alcohol, while about a quarter never do, according to the latest federal statistics.

Here are some facts about drinking in the United States, according to the US National Centre for Health Statistics, part of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention:

* 68% of US adult males described themselves as current drinkers, compared with 55% of women.

* 31% of women abstain from alcohol; 18% of men do

* 70% of white men drink, compared with 57% of black men, 55% of Asian men and 58% of American Indian or Alaska Native men.

* White women are more likely to drink than black women (59% versus 40%); 45% of American Indian or Alaska Native women drink and 32% of Asian women do.

* The more education people have, the more likely they are to drink -- 74% of adults with a graduate degree drink, compared to 44% of those with less than a high school diploma.

* The higher a person's family income, the more likely he or she is to drink. Nearly 73% of adults with family incomes four times or more the poverty level were drinkers, compared with 45% of adults with family incomes below the poverty level.