If anyone knows, the CIA should

[deckardcanine]

Sometimes I read the CIA's World Factbook to enhance my geography knowledge. Today I looked at the data on the world as a whole. Most were unsurprising to me, but I got confused about the disparities between imports and exports of various resources. Shouldn't they be the same? I could understand if some shipments got lost in transit, but how do you account for more electricity imported than exported?

The only explanation that comes to my mind is that the world is conducting business with extraterrestrials.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Resources are consumed in producing goods. To some extent, they are also wasted due to inefficiencies in the production processes.

[thatcatgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but his explanation is cooler. ;P

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

That doesn't explain how global imports could be higher than global exports. There's a separate stat for consumption.