In Python, data types are essential for classifying and categorizing data items. They define the kind of value that can be stored and the operations that can be performed on that data. Python has a variety of built-in data types, which can be broadly classified into several categories.

The primary categories of data types in Python include numeric types (integers, floats, and complex numbers), strings, lists, dictionaries, tuples, and sets. Numeric types represent numbers, where integers are whole numbers, floats are real numbers with decimal points, and complex numbers have a real and an imaginary part. Strings are sequences of characters, while lists are ordered collections that can hold multiple items. Dictionaries store key-value pairs, tuples are immutable ordered collections, and sets are unordered collections of unique items ¹²³.

Python also supports dynamic typing, meaning you do not need to explicitly declare the type of a variable; it is determined automatically based on the assigned value ³⁴.