A total tells less when nobody explains what was left outside it.

Every figure has a boundary, and the boundary was drawn by someone. What got counted, what got left out, which period was chosen: those decisions do as much work as the arithmetic. A number presented alone invites you to treat it as the whole picture when it is really a picture with edges cropped somewhere you cannot see.

When a total matters to you, ask what it excludes before you argue about its size. One plain question about scope will often tell you more than a second opinion on the figure itself.