What are the main differences between mitosis and meiosis?

Mitosis and meiosis are both examples of cell division that result in the creation of new cells. There are two main differences between these processes; firstly, meiosis involves two cell divisions and mitosis only involves one. Secondly, meiosis leads to the production of germ cells, which give rise to gametes (sperm or egg cells), whereas mitosis leads to the production of somatic cells. Somatic cells are diploid, which means they have two copies of each chromosome, and germ cells are haploid, which means they have only one copy of each chromosome, and this characterisitic is required for the process of sexual reproduction. So, in mitosis, the two diploid daughter cells produced are genetically identical to the original parent cell and in meiosis, the four haploid daughter cells produced are genetically different to the original parent cell.