(Yicai Global) April 29 -- The lesser developed provinces in central and western China were the least affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to first-quarter economic data published by 30 provincial-level regions to date.

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region took just a 0.2 percent annual hit in terms of gross domestic product, the smallest dent among all regions. Guizhou and Hunan both had a decline of 1.9 percent and the remaining 10 smallest losers were Qinghai, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sichuan, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Gansu, Jiangxi, and Yunnan. Eight of the 10 are in the west of China.

Provinces with the most developed economies and highest population densities typically took a harder hit, Chen Yao, deputy chairman of the China Regional Economics Association, told Yicai Global. Many western regions are underdeveloped, sparsely populated and home to resource-based industries like mining and agriculture that continued to operate during the pandemic, he added.

The provinces hardest bit by the virus outbreak were the epicenter Hubei, the coastal regions of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, and regions laden with energy and chemical firms like Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Tianjin.

GDP in Tianjin, a municipality run directly by the central government, fell 9.5 percent in the first quarter, the biggest drop of the 30 regions that have published data. The figures for Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin fell 8.3 percent, 7.7 percent and 6.6 percent.

Beijing’s economy slipped 6.6 percent and those of Shanghai and Guangdong, the country’s largest regional economy, fell 6.7 percent.

Editor: James Boynton