What Are Primitive Data Types? Java is a statically typed language, meaning every variable must have a specific type. The fundamental building blocks of data handling in Java are primitive data types. These types represent simple values and are not objects, making them highly efficient in terms of memory and performance. There are eight primitive data types in Java, categorized based on the kind of values they store. These are: byte short int long float double char boolean Unlike reference types (objects), primitive data types in Java store actual values rather than references to objects. They are stored in stack