The authors consider regional peculiarities of rural employment in enterprise, organizations and subsidiary farms, as well as rural labor migration. For the first time, the available statisti-cal base for rural areas of 290 administrative rayons has been used and analyzed for that purpose. The article provides estimates of intra-region differentiation of rural employment

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The authors provide the results of research on the development of the demographic and settlement crisis in Ukraine’s rural areas for a long period (1991–2006). They define the tendencies, factors and the area of the crisis impact, and work out various proposals as to the improvement of methodology of the determination of its limits. The article provides the authors’ estimates of the changes in the rural demographic and settlement situation until 2015.

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The author considers the peculiarities of multi-functional development of Ukrainian village during the transformation period. He analyzes volumes and value structure of the facilities commissioned in rural areas in recent years, and assesses the direction of the investments made to rural development for the village to perform its multiple role

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The article analyzes the stratification of rural households by the character of their activities into con-sumer and market oriented ones and assesses the share of those having preconditions for develop-ment into western type farms. The authors justify the necessity of state support of the sector of indi-vidual farms

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The article reveals the opportunities and key factors of the increase of farming households’ incomes by way of their implementation in the market agro food system. Typical households groups have been excreted on the basis of socio-demographic characteristics. It was ascertained that the current socio-economic policy is not able to solve the problem of rural poverty. As a result, more than half of the families with children, who shape the future of the Ukrainian village, belong to the poorest households. Therefore, the authors justify the need of a policy to support the incomes of rural families in order to improve their commercialization. Using the statistical method of grouping and matching, the authors identified various key factors of the commercialization of agricul-tural activities of selected social groups of rural households and their economic effect, which is increasing the incomes from the sale of agricultural products. It was estimated that the highest effect for improving welfare of the poor rural households can be achieved through increasing land in use (extensive method) or raising technical and technological and innovation support (intensive method) of the households agricultural activity. The calcula-tions confirm the highest income increase is possible with the joint effect of the two factors, which requires the increase in the land area in use up to 2 ha and annual expenditures on agricultural activities, within the techno-logical feasibility, in the amount of UAH 2-3 thousand. The authors suggest to provide the necessary level of expenditures though the implementation of targeted state support for selected household groups over a period of up to 5 years in exchange for their guaranty to improve the level of commercialization.

Keywords:private peasant farm, agrarian activities, market orientation, factors of commercialization

Changes in key segments of the life support system of rural population during reforming agricultural and social sectors and the reasons which caused them have been analyzed. It is shown that in general there was a deterioration of rural infrastructure and access of population to public goods. The declared quality improvement of education and health services in terms of service concentration and closure of corresponding establishments were not achieved. At the same time, in suburban and recreational zones, the process of the urbanization of rural environment accelerated.Here and generally in Ukraine, the volume of rural house construction increased as well as the level of engineering equipment of housing stock.
The author revealed the opportunities to improve living conditions in rural areas on the basis of higher citizens' initiative, community cohesion and development of state-public partnership. This will be contributed by measures to decentralize power and economy and reform the sphere of life support based on de-monopolization and de-concentration of public services.
The author justifies the guidelines to solve the problems concerning life support of rural population by improving the state agrarian policy and directing it to achieve the objectives of rural development such as increasing incomes of peasants of all forms of participation in agricultural production and attracting businesses to the development of rural communities. It is necessary to clearly position the interest of agricultural sector in the preservation and development of rural settlement network.

Keywords: agricultural policy, state-public partnership, de-centralization, life support, reforming, social sphere, rural development

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The authors provide a socioeconomic assessment of the processes that have taken place in rural areas and the agricultural sector after the establishment of Ukraine's political independence. They reveal the controversial nature of agrarian reforms resulted in the unnecessarily polarized dual structure of agriculture and the divergence between agricultural and rural development.
In agriculture, a division of activities between different groups of producers took place. Growing the high tech export oriented crops together with the profits from trading them were monopolized by the agricultural holdings. The marginally profitable production of labor-intensive products was concentrated in private farms, which are the most numerous representatives of the underdeveloped family-style farming. All that has restricted the resources for economic and social development of rural communities and led to a situation in which, with the growth of agricultural output, the rural areas are degrading.
The article shows that the Ukrainian village remains a scene of social reforms in three areas: agriculture, social services and local government. Its future will greatly depend on how well the process of reform will ensure the priority interests of rural community and the general public over the commercial goals of big business.

Keywords: agricultural policy, agrarian reform, the dual structure of agriculture, rural employment, rural infrastructure, rural development, reform of local government

The authors provide a socioeconomic assessment of the processes that have taken place in rural areas and the agricultural sector after the establishment of Ukraine's political independence. They reveal the controversial nature of agrarian reforms resulted in the unnecessarily polarized dual structure of agriculture and the divergence between agricultural and rural development.
In agriculture, a division of activities between different groups of producers took place. Growing the high tech export oriented crops together with the profits from trading them were monopolized by the agricultural holdings. The marginally profitable production of labor-intensive products was concentrated in private farms, which are the most numerous representatives of the underdeveloped family-style farming. All that has restricted the resources for economic and social development of rural communities and led to a situation in which, with the growth of agricultural output, the rural areas are degrading.
The article shows that the Ukrainian village remains a scene of social reforms in three areas: agriculture, social services and local government. Its future will greatly depend on how well the process of reform will ensure the priority interests of rural community and the general public over the commercial goals of big business.

Keywords: agricultural policy, agrarian reform, the dual structure of agriculture, rural employment, rural infrastructure, rural development, reform of local government

One of the areas of improvement of state agrarian policy in Ukraine is increasing support for small farms. However, there is still no common position on the division of agricultural producers by economic size. For identifying it, it seems appropriate to take into account the practice of the European Union, where the typology of farms uses the indicator of economic size. It is based on the economic parameter of Standard Output (SO) and describes the possible value of production that the producer is able to get, with the available productive capacity and conducting business in a particular region.
The economic size of farms is determined based on their acreage and number of animals using regional SO ratios, which are calculated in the EU by relevant authorities. The farms are classified by economic size in 14 classes ranging from "less than 2 thousand Euros" to "more than 3 mln Euros." Within the system, there are groups of small, medium and large farms.
Ukraine needs to adopt the European approach to assessing the size of the farms, in which the group of small sized farms would include individual farms (households), peasant family farms and small sized economically independent farms. It is necessary to immediately start to build a national system of determination of farm size in terms of the economic parameter of Standard Output. During the transition period, it is expedient to temporarily assess the economic value of farms using an indicator as close as possible to the SO.

Keywords: agricultural producers, economic size, small farms, indicators of economic activities, the standard output

Based on extended interpretation of the essence of farming, the article outlines the boundaries of the farming segment in Ukrainian agriculture. This farming segment includes not only registered farms, but also those households, which meet the global farming criteria. The authors estimate the number of the households (personal peasant farms) of farmer type and their productive potential and prove that one of the top priorities in improving the mechanism of state support for farming is encouraging the households to institutionalize (formalize) their agricultural activities.
It is proposed to introduce a five-year program to provide financial assistance to the households (personal peasant farms) in order to expand the scale of their current agricultural output, to start new activities, and to increase the level of commercialization and subsequent formalization in the regulatory environment. The main provisions of the program were developed, such as the requirements for potential beneficiaries and the results of their participation in the program; conditions for the allocation and use of support funds; estimated number of participants; the need for budget financing etc. According to calculations, during the program period, it will involve 75 thousand households, who, after fulfilling all the stipulated conditions, will join the farm segment.

Keywords: state support, households, business plan, personal peasant farms (PPF), state support program, farmers potential, formalization of PPF activity

The article considers the essential features of rural development as a multi-vector process, which not only involves economic growth in rural areas, but also requires its adaptation to human behavior, social and political structure of rural communities and their involvement in development processes. It also reflects systemic positive changes in rural areas, which are initiated "from bottom" and supported "from top". In this concept of rural development, inclusiveness is inherent.
The authors show that the development of the concept of "inclusive rural development" took place in the process of enrichment and specification of the theoretical concepts of sustainable development, inclusive growth and inclusive development in relation to the rural sector of society. This concept denotes a development whose result consists in the creation of proper conditions for the rural population for such purposes as: the use of land and other local resources in the economic activities; adequate distribution of the results of economic growth in the agriculture and other sectors of the rural economy; and participation in social and public life for the consolidation of communities and observance of human rights. Such development leads to the reduction of poverty, overcoming the economic, social and political exclusion of people residing in rural areas.
It is pointed out that ensuring the inclusive development is a function of the state regulation of national economy. To implement it in Ukraine, it is necessary to ensure, first of all, the implementation, in the regulatory and legal framework, of the global goals of sustainable development and the objectives for their achievement. That could be realized by adopting the Law on the Strategy for Sustainable Development until 2030, and, in the part of inclusive rural development, also the Law on the Basic Principles of the State Agrarian Policy and State Policy of Rural Development.

Keywords: inclusiveness, economic growth, inclusive development, human rights, rural development, social inclusion, Goals of Sustainable Development

The article deals with assessing the place of rural settlements and rural population in territorial communities (TC) - the basic link of the modern administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine and highlighting the preconditions and guidelines of inclusive development of rural population in these communities. The author reveals the factors of TC formation that determined their present composition and structure. It is noted that in their creation the decisive role was played by the important values of the projected indicators of population number and area of the "affluent" community. As a result, more than 2/3 of rural settlements and 61% of the rural population joined the TCs with centers in urban settlements (towns and urban-type settlements). Many urban and semi-urban TCs unite too many villages, which gives reason to question their belonging to urban territorial units, and no other types. Using methodological approaches to the identification of rural areas in the EU, the author compiles a classification of Ukrainian territorial communities on a functional (rather than administrative) basis. In terms of population density, the author separates communities with urban and rural population, and in terms of the share of rural residents in the TC's total population – those with predominantly urban, mixed (urban-rural) and predominantly rural nature of their territories. The distribution of rural settlements and rural population by these types of communities is carried out. In terms of both indicators, the absolute majority of TCs are communities with rural, or mostly rural and rural-urban functional type of territories. The author emphasizes that territorial communities have the main responsibility for the development of their territories and, consequently, for the inclusive development of their rural communities, and that the authorities should assist them in promoting such development by implementing various public policies, especially agricultural and regional ones. This includes, first of all, intensifying support for family and commercial farms, especially in small and peripheral villages, improving rural infrastructure, as well as unbundling TCs with a very large number of rural settlements and assisting new communities in their independent functioning.
The publication was prepared within the research project on "Inclusiveness of rural community development in the process of decentralization" (State Registration No 0120U100815).

Keywords:territorial communities, rural population, rural settlements, inclusive development, identification of rural areas