WordPress updates are basically modifications to your websites code. Behind the scenes code changes can help improve the performance of your website which can make it faster to run. They could also be code changes which help secure your website from hackers. A website will never be 100% safe however regular updates to your website will keep the baddies at bay.
WordPress updates mainly come in three forms for a WordPress website. That is updates for your WordPress Installation, updates for your WordPress Theme or updates for your WordPress Plugins. All which will need to updated on a regular basis.
It’s recommended that before any updates are installed on a WordPress website that your website is backed up before any update operation takes place. After all updates can break a website too!