About PLS_INTEGER Data Type

• When declaring an integer variable, PLS_INTEGER is the most efficient numeric datatype because its values require less storage than INTEGER or NUMBER values, which are represented internally as 22-byte Oracle numbers.
• PLS_INTEGER operations use machine arithmetic, so they are faster than BINARY_INTEGER, INTEGER, or NUMBER operations, which use library arithmetic.
• Use of the PLS_INTEGER data type in PL/SQL involves less internal instructions to process, thus increasing performance. The PLS_INTEGER is useful for counters and integer operations