ІNCOMES AND EXPENSES OF THE RURAL POPULATION AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE STANDART OF LIVING
Authors: Gerasymchuk Natalya , Pashchenko Oksana , Zharikova Olena 
Published: January 2024

One of the leading branches of the economy, which provides the population with food, and industry with raw materials, is agriculture. The leading sector of which are rural households, which produce about 40% of agricultural products and participate in solving problems related to providing the population with food products. Most of the products produced by them are used to meet their own needs, and a small part is sold on the market. The purpose of writing the article is to highlight the structure of incomes and expenses of rural households for the period 2018-2021, to study the impact of incomes and expenses on the standard of living of rural households and to increase consumption in rural households depending on the growth of incomes. The results of the study were obtained according to the data of the State Statistics Service regarding the incomes and expenses of rural households for the period 2018-2021. In the process of work, statistical analysis was used as a method of understanding phenomena, comparison and measurement as empirical methods of conducting research, the method of grouping, and the method of selective observation. The interpretation of the essence of the concept of «household» is considered. It has been established that ownership of resources is of great importance in shaping the well-being of households. The more resources a household owns, the wealthier the household members are. All that a household owns is its wealth, but households do not have the same wealth and different amounts of income. Property and resources owned by the family (wealth) are only a source of household income. How a household manages its wealth depends on its level of income and, accordingly, the level of satisfaction of various needs. The household is the basis of the economic well-being of every state and affects the state of material well-being of a rural or urban family. There is always a difference in income among households. Therefore, the standard of living of the population depends on the incomes and expenses of households.

The main incomes of the household are: rent, rent, wages, pensions, scholarships, benefits, insurance payments, fees, profit from own business and ownership of financial assets, dividends, interest on bank deposits, income from inheritance, royalties. It has been studied that monetary incomes and total resources in Ukraine per household. Having researched and analyzed the monetary incomes and expenses of rural households during 2018-2021, it can be stated that the structure of resources has improved, that is, the specific weight of monetary incomes has increased by 419%, in particular, wages – by 62,3%, income from entrepreneurial activities and self-employment – by 21,5%, from property – by 25,4%, the cost of consumed products obtained from the OPG – by 22%. There is also an increase in the share of benefits, benefits and subsidies by 66.4%, which indicates an increase in rural households that need social protection. In 2021, in the structure of monetary incomes, the largest share is occupied by pension incomes of 17,2%, this shows an increase in the number of people of retirement age in the village and indicates an increase in the number of people in need of social protection.

It was found that during 2018-2021, there is a positive dynamic that contributes to the increase in the purchasing power of the rural population, which occurs due to the increase in the wages of the rural population (from 41,5 in 2018 to 47,5% in 2021). However, despite the positive dynamics of wage growth, its level in agriculture remains very low. After all, it is formed under the influence of inflation and the economic situation in the country, state regulation, etc. During 2017-2021, spending on food products decreased from 51 to 48,9%, spending on non-food spending increased from 41.9 to 42,4%, and spending on non-consumer goods and services from 7,1 to 8%. 7%. The reason for this is the lack of funds necessary for their purchase, so rural households are independently engaged in the production of food products to meet personal needs. The lack of consumption of the most important products is compensated by the increase in the consumption of oil, other vegetable fats and flour products.

The increase in the share of expenditure on non-food products characterizes the improvement of the standard of living of rural households. However, the standard of living of rural households is low. The low level of wages of the able-bodied population, cultural and household needs, underdeveloped infrastructure negatively affect the standard of living of the rural population and lead to their migration to the city, which negatively affects the demographic situation in the countryside. Therefore, the state should take measures that will improve the standard of living of the rural population and increase its entrepreneurial potential, namely, improve the demographic situation, raise wages to a decent level that will be stable and timely, pensions, social transfers, increase social guarantees and standards, improve social protection of the rural population and the infrastructure of villages, to establish a system for selling products of rural households. Russia's war against Ukraine led to a deterioration in the standard of living of households. Loss of work, stable income, forced unplanned expenses and population migration, threat to life and fear have influenced the reduction of incomes and increase of household expenses. However, it forced them to change their views in all areas of life, caused the emergence of new impulses regarding the development of the country, the economy, improvement of the standard of living and mentality.