South China's Guangdong province has the strongest economic competitiveness out of all 31 mainland provincial-level regions, followed by Jiangsu province, Shanghai and Beijing, a think tank report said on Thursday.

Chongqing, the only inland municipality, now ranks 15th on the list, while Jiangxi province dropped five places, according to the Report on the Overall Competitiveness of China’s Provincial Economy released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Instead of the GDP of each provincial-level region, the contribution of high-tech to industrial added value and comprehensive energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP were given great weight among all 210 indicators.