The 2011 Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug Survey, prepared for the federal Health Department, found alcohol consumption among students aged 12-17 had continued to fall since 2005.

Big decreases in binge drinking - defined as more than four drinks in a single session in the previous seven days - were recorded among both older and younger students.

Bingeing had dropped from 23 per cent of students aged 16 and 17 in 2005 to 16 per cent in 2011, after levelling out at 18 per cent in 2008.

Among those aged 12-15, binge drinking had halved, from 6 per cent in 2005 to 3 per cent in 2011.

Drinking anything at all in the previous seven days had also halved among the younger group, from 22 per cent to 11 per cent.

However, the survey, released in December, found that 51 per cent of students in the age group where alcohol consumption is illegal had drunk alcohol in the previous 12 months.

Todd Harper, chief executive of the Cancer Council of Victoria - which assisted with the survey - issued a statement saying the figures showed that ''another generation is inheriting risky drinking behaviour''.

Teenage drinking was linked with alcohol dependence in adulthood, which in turn was linked with chronic illnesses such as cancer, Mr Harper said.

But the Brewers Association, one of the nation's alcohol industry groups opposed to mandatory controls on their products, maintained that the survey clearly showed the misuse of alcohol among the young was declining.

The chief executive of the Brewers Association, Denita Wawn, said further research by the Roy Morgan organisation in late 2012 had found that the number of Australians who consume alcohol over an average four-week period had progressively decreased each year for the past five years.

Despite campaigns by public health groups and research organisations, Australia does not mandate warnings on alcohol products.