The COUNT function in SQL is a powerful tool for getting a quick overview of the size of your data. It's used to determine the number of rows that meet a specific criteria. This is crucial for understanding the volume of data you're working with and for performing calculations on that data. For example, you might want to count the number of customers who placed orders in a particular month, or the total number of products in stock. COUNT is a core part of many data analysis tasks, allowing you to quickly summarize and understand your data. It's often used in conjunction with other aggregate functions like SUM, AVG, and MAX to provide a more comprehensive picture of your data. COUNT is a non-NULL aggregate function, meaning it ignores NULL values unless you specifically instruct it otherwise.