The Shanghai Municipality, east China's booming coastal city, has topped all other regions in China for overall economic competitiveness, the Beijing Evening News cited a report as saying on Tuesday.

The Chinese capital Beijing ranked second followed by southern China's Guangdong Province, according to the newspaper.

The report used data on the economic conditions of China's 31 provincial regions between 2004 and 2005. The areas were assessed using eight major indices such as macro-economy, industrial economy, sustainable development and finance.

Since the 2004 report, southwestern China's Sichuan Province moved up eight spots on the chart, making the most progress, while the inland economies of Shaanxi, Hunan and Chongqing all moved up three spots.

The report was jointly published on Tuesday by the Fujian Normal University, the Management World magazine under the Development Research Center of the State Council and the Social Sciences Academic Press under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)