What does a 5.69% fill rate mean?

It is a measure of our coverage, not of the world. Out of 24,192 possible cells across 384 cities and 63 industries, 1,377 are filled, which is 5.69%. An empty cell means no value has been recorded yet, not that the industry is absent.

Is an empty cell proof that a city has no such industry?

No. An empty cell means we have not recorded a value there yet. The table covers China only, and its fill rate depends on our collection procedure.

InfoGap · gates

Does a filled cell mean a city has that industry?

Q: Does a filled cell mean a city has that industry?

No. A filled cell records that our collection produced a value for that city and industry. It is a 0/1 flag from the city's own industry list, not a statement about output, employment or revenue.

In one line

Our city × industry table has 384 city rows and 63 industry columns — 24,192 possible cells — and only 1,377 of them carry a value, a fill rate of 5.69%. A filled cell means we recorded a reading, not that the city owns that industry; the 5.69% is a measure of how much we know, not of how much exists.

Every square is one possible cell in the table. Orange squares are cells we have filled.

The numbers behind it

Value	What it counts	Source / definition
384	city rows	`counts.city_rows` in `data/dl/city-industry-matrix/city-industry-matrix.json`
63	industry columns	`counts.industry_columns`, same file
24,192	possible cells	`counts.possible_cells` = 384 × 63, same file
1,377	filled cells	`counts.filled_cells`, same file
5.69%	fill rate	`counts.fill_rate` = 1,377 ÷ 24,192, same file
2026-09-29	when the file was generated	`generated_at`, same file

The file's own source note: derived by InfoGap from central.city_opportunities.industries (city-reported industry lists); licence CC BY-NC 4.0; spatial coverage China.

Why 5.69% is a measure, not a gap

A measure reports what a procedure produced. The fill rate reports how many cells our collection procedure has filled — nothing else.
Read as a gap, 5.69% sounds like the world is 94% empty. Read as a measure, it says our table is 5.69% populated. Only the second reading is supported by the file.
The same number can move for two unrelated reasons: the world changed, or our procedure changed. A measure without its procedure attached is not comparable.

What this cannot tell you

A filled cell is a 0/1 flag for whether the city's own list names that industry. It carries no size, output, employment or revenue.
An empty cell is not evidence of absence — it means no value has been recorded there yet.
The table covers China only. It says nothing about any other country or region.
The fill rate is a moving target in our procedure, not a fixed property of the world; compare it across dates only while the collection method is held fixed.
The 384 rows are the cities we currently cover, not the full set of Chinese cities.

Cite this

According to InfoGap's city × industry matrix (source: data/dl/city-industry-matrix/city-industry-matrix.json, derived by InfoGap from city-reported industry lists; definition: a cell is 1 when the city's own record names that industry, and the fill rate is filled cells divided by possible cells; generated 2026-09-29, read 2026-10-14), the table holds 24,192 possible cells across 384 cities and 63 industries, of which 1,377 are filled — a fill rate of 5.69%.

Want the whole table? Every city row, every industry column, and the cells that are filled — with the same definitions attached.

China City × Industry Matrix — see the grid

This is a dataset and an analytical reading — it is not investment advice and not a forecast. Every figure is a recorded measurement with its date attached.