# W|A or Mathematica for CountryData?

Sometimes W|A gives you something ...

WolframAlpha["electricity production of the United States in 2007", "Result"]


... not available in the WDF

CountryData["UnitedStates", {"ElectricityProduction", 2007}]


Other times, the opposite seems to apply - say for more recent data in WDF ...

CountryData["UnitedStates", "ElectricityProduction"]


... whereas in W|A

WolframAlpha["electricity production of the United States in 2014", "Result"]


... or at least I'd assumed it was more recent and this now conflicts with the earlier W|A output?

CountryData["UnitedStates", "ElectricityProduction", "Date"]


Are multiple data sources being used here or is this a bug?

• I would guess that it is indeed an issue with multiple sources; I cannot figure out what else it could be, and the way you checked the dates for both of the data requests should guarantee it. It could be that because W|A runs on an offsite computer, it is told to take an average of all the available values, whereas Mathematica would take the first available value as a good enough approximation to reduce the computing time required? reference.wolfram.com/language/note/… – V-J Jan 4 '16 at 9:10

EntityValue[Entity["Country", "UnitedStates"],