The current decrease in the number of the rural population is caused primarily by negative natural growth, while at the same time migration, due to the specifics of the migratory behavior of the population, significantly affects the deepening of disparities in the sex-age structure of rural settlements. The study of the territorial differentiation of the characteristics of demographic reproduction showed the presence of significant differences, which are displayed on the maps.
The decrease in the number of the rural population leads to negative structural transformations of the rural settlement network. Its main manifestations are 1) a decrease in the number of settlements; 2) fragmentation of the rural settlement network due to a decrease in the average population of settlements; 3) the appearance of villages without a permanent population. It is important to clarify that the exclusion of villages from the register was also due to other reasons, for example ecological, but still, in large numbers, it was caused by their depopulation as a result of the demographic crisis.
To reflect territorial differences in the structural transformations of the settlement network was created cartographic models of changes in the average population, the density of rural settlements, and the density of the rural population from 1993 to 2018. Map schemes were developed that holistically reveal the differentiation of the main parameters of rural settlement at the level of administrative districts. Also was determined the close interdependence of structural parameters of rural settlement, on the one hand, and indicators of demographic development, on the other. Based on combinations of average population and settlement density was revealed the typological differences of the regions of Ukraine according to the peculiarities of the ratio of rural settlement parameters.
Based on sociological survey data, an analysis of the views of the young population on the problems, advantages, and opportunities of rural recovery was carried out. According to the answers of the respondents, the main problems in rural areas are difficulties with employment, and insufficient development of infrastructure (transport, medical, educational, entertainment). Accordingly, the subsection considers possible political, economic, and social solutions for improving the situation in rural settlements. Separate ways of solving the problem consist in increasing the investment attractiveness of rural areas and creating prerequisites for the development of medium and small farms and related non-agricultural industries. The creation of tax holidays or other tax preferences for those entrepreneurs who plan to locate their production facilities in rural areas would contribute to the intensification of small and medium-sized businesses.
