The purpose of multithreading in programming is to allow concurrent execution of multiple threads within a single process. This enables more efficient utilization of system resources, improving performance and responsiveness, particularly in applications requiring concurrent operations, such as user interfaces or real-time data processing. By dividing tasks into smaller units of work (threads), programs can perform several operations simultaneously, minimizing idle time for the CPU and enabling better user experiences. Multithreading is especially significant in high-performance applications, web servers, and gaming.