Regional Assessment of Small Business Development

In today's conditions of economic development, the importance of small business as a factor in the competitiveness of local and regional economies is growing. The article provides a rating assessment of the regions of Ukraine in terms of their social and economic development for the functioning of small business. The issue of providing a rating assessment to the regions of Ukraine in terms of the favorable regions for the operation of small business is relevant and necessary for in-depth study. That is why the article is devoted to this topic. The purpose of the article is to calculate the suitability of regions for the operation of small business and provide a rating for all regions of Ukraine. The calculation of the indicator for assessing the level of favorable regions of the country in ensuring the effective functioning of small business is based on the summation of the rank values of each studied indicator that affects the functioning and development of small business in the region. Due to these indicators, it is possible to provide a rating assessment of the favorableness of the regions of Ukraine in the functioning of small business. After the calculations for 2018, the regions were divided into three structural economic blocks: with great opportunities, sufficient and underdeveloped regions. The first block includes 9 oblasts and the city of Kyiv, the second – 10 oblasts, and the third economic block – 5 oblasts. According to these indicators, we can conclude that the most favorable regions for small business are: Kyiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Lviv regions. Transcarpathian region entered the second economic block with further prospects for social and economic development. The most problematic regions are Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, which were caused by hostilities that began in the territory in 2014 as a result of the deepening political crisis in Ukraine. The results presented in this study show a real picture of the social and economic development of the regions, which will help in the future to find ways for the possible development of all economic and social components of the regions.