The total number of subscribers you may see in your analytics or on your subscriber panel represent total subscribers up to that point in time.
It includes readers who may have since unsubscribed.
The "active" on the dashboard excludes unsubscribes, which is why active subscribers may be lower than total subscribers.
To force the numbers to match:
- Create a new segment of all users with the status "inactive"
- Permanently delete all subscribers in the new segment
This should leave you with only active subscribers in your account.