  Two families of models of dusty tori in AGNs (moderately thick and extended
versus very thick and compact) are tested against available observations. The
confrontation suggests that the former class better explains the IR broad-band
spectra of both broad and narrow line AGNs, the anisotropy of the emission
deduced by comparing IR properties of Seyfert 1 and 2 nuclei, the results of IR
spectroscopy and those of high spatial resolution observations. There is
however clear evidence for a broad distribution of optical depths. We also
examine the relationship between IR and X-ray emission. The data support a view
in which the matter responsible for the X-ray absorption is mostly dust free,
lying inside the dust sublimation radius. The consequences of these results for
the hard X-ray background as well as IR counts and background are discussed.
