Kurtosis is a statistical measure that describes the shape of a distribution's tails in relation to its overall shape. It helps to identify whether data points are concentrated around the mean or if there are extreme values (outliers). A distribution with high kurtosis has heavy tails, indicating more outliers, while low kurtosis suggests lighter tails and fewer extreme values. There are three types of kurtosis: mesokurtic, which is similar to a normal distribution; leptokurtic, which has heavier tails and a sharper peak; and platykurtic, which has lighter tails and a flatter peak. Understanding kurtosis can aid in data analysis and interpretation.