  A brief survey of theoretical approaches to description of multiplicity
distributions in high energy processes is given. It is argued that the
multicomponent nature of these processes leads to some peculiar characteristics
observed experimentally. Predictions for LHC energies are presented. It is
shown that similarity of the energy dependence of average multiplicities in
different reactions is not enough alone to suggest the universal mechanism of
particle production in strongly-interacting systems. Other characteristics of
multiplicity distributions depend on the nature of colliding partners.
