Why there are two contact numbers in a list

Have you ever wondered why, when viewing a Mailchimp list, there are two different numbers of contacts shown?

When viewing your Mailchimp list you may have noticed that there are  two different numbers shown; one depicts the number of Subscribed contacts in your list and the other the total number of contacts. 
You may only send email marketing to contacts with a status of Subscribed.

To do:

1. Log into Mailchimp and click Lists. 
2. Click your list name.
3. You’ll notice the number of subscribed contacts next to your list name. The total number of contacts is shown next to the Export List button. 

Note: The total number of contacts in a list shows contacts that have a status of Subscribed, Unsubscribed, Cleaned and empty (a status of empty is where you may send transnational email messages only to that contact).