Why is database connection pooling important and how do you configure it?

Connection pooling maintains reusable database connections, avoiding overhead of creating new connections per request. Benefits: reduced latency (no connection setup), resource efficiency (limit connections), connection management. Configuration: min/max pool size (based on load and database limits), connection timeout, idle timeout, validation query. Sizing: too small causes waiting; too large overloads database. Libraries: HikariCP (Java), pgBouncer (PostgreSQL). Monitor: pool exhaustion, wait times. Essential for high-throughput applications.