New York, Oct 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Forty-seven percent of American adults admit that they keep a gun in their household, which is the highest number recorded in almost two decades, a US pollster reported.

Results for the Gallup poll published Wednesday are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct 6-9 with a random sample of 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older.

?Gun ownership is more common in the South (54 percent) and Midwest (51 percent) than in the East (36 percent) or West (43 percent),? the Gallup report says.

The percentage of women who report household gun ownership is also at a new high, registering 43 percent this year compared to 36 percent last year.

The poll also indicates that ?a record-low 26 percent of Americans favour a legal ban on the possession of handguns in the US other than by police and other authorised people?.

The possession of firearms for protection and other lawful purposes is legal in 49 US states.