This paper will discuss the confinement properties of plasma in magnetic fields which are characterized by their strong toroidal components. In such systems confinement is achieved by the addition of poloidal magnetic fields which are either produced internally by toroidal currents induced in the plasma - internal confinement - or by currents flowing in external coils - external confinement. The main representatives for internal and external confinement are the tokamak and the stellarator respectively. This paper will mainly deal with the tokamak and add some comments on ohmically heated stellarators when there are essential differences to be reported. In addition, the present achievements will be put into perspective with fusion reactor requirements in order to allow an assessment of the state of the art and of the still open problems.