THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Social development should be a priority of the modern social policy of every state. Despite positive developments in the economic sphere of many national economies, social problems affecting the standard of living and quality of life, as well as the equal distribution of income among the population, are increasingly arising. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the theoretical approaches to the understanding of social development, to investigate the state of social development in Ukraine and to propose priority directions of state social policy that will contribute to social progress. A key indicator that helps to adequately assess the level of a country's social development is the Social Development Index. The index helps governments decide on the main directions of social policy, public investment priorities, and other measures that will contribute to social progress. Over the past ten years, Ukraine has significantly improved its performance in terms of economic inclusion (discrimination against minorities, opportunities to influence political decisions based on gender, social group, and socioeconomic status) and in the category of access to information and communications (access to online services, Internet, media censorship, and availability of cell phones among the population). Ukraine received the worst results in the study of personal safety and health indicators. Such low scores are negatively influenced by the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine has improved its performance in the international ranking, but there are still many problematic areas that should be addressed and the direction of state influence on them should be improved. According to the results of the analysis of the social development index, priority areas of state social policy were identified, among them: combating child poverty, ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, improving access to quality medical services and effectively combating the pandemic, effective environmental policies to combat pollution, combating corruption, inclusive growth and development policies should be the key focus of modern economic development.