Counting items in itemize or enumerate environments

itemize does not use a counter (with \refstepcounter)) -- The \label is useless then (and if it should be used, it must after the last item, not before the first one.

I've patched the itemize environment a little bit and added a new counter, that is reset and stepped each time \item is used.

Use \getrefnumber{...} from the refcount package to get an expandable number.

\documentclass{article}


\usepackage{xpatch}

\usepackage{refcount}


\newcommand{\numitems}[1]{\getrefnumber{#1}}
\newcounter{itemcntr}

\AtBeginEnvironment{itemize}{%
\setcounter{itemcntr}{0}%
\xapptocmd{\item}{\refstepcounter{itemcntr}}{}{}%
}

\begin{document}


Here are the \numitems{mylist} points I wanted to address:
\begin{itemize}
    \item important issue;
    \item another important issue;
    \item oh, and yet another critical thing. \label{mylist}
\end{itemize}


Here are the \numitems{otherlist} points I wanted to address:
\begin{itemize}
    \item important issue;
    \item another important issue;
    \item almost forgotten stuff;
    \item oh, and yet another critical thing. \label{otherlist}
\end{itemize}



\end{document}