Proceedings of the International scientific and practical conference ―Science and Global Development‖ (February 20-22, 2026) / Publisher website: www.naukainfo.com. – Barcelona, Spain, 2026. - 229 p.

65 Our analysis of the expenditures of the consolidated budget of Ukraine by functional classification shows that the volume of budget expenditures is growing annually, but what is important here is what volume of financial resources was concentrated on a particular sector to meet public needs (Table 2), that is, how were priorities determined and changed? As can be seen from the data in Table 2, before the start of the large-scale Russian invasion, the largest volume of expenditures in 2021 fell on social protection and social security (19.92%), including social protection of pensioners (11.49%). In somewhat smaller volumes compared to social security, but stably (16.97%), such an important social sector as education was financed. Next in terms of the largest direction of budget expenditures is economic activity (15.91%). As can be seen from the data in Table 2, in 2021, expenditures in the amount of UAH 203,610.4 million or 11.04 percent were allocated to healthcare. In fact, from the data in Table 2, we see those macro indicators that characterize the priorities of budget policy in the pre-war period. They are expressed in social expenditures and it is important to note here that this does not depend on the optimal needs of the industries, but on the budget's ability to satisfy them. From this we can conclude that before the war, the government's main attention in implementing budget policy was focused on issues of social security, development of education, healthcare, as well as support for economic activity. That is, funding was provided for sectors that determine the future of social development and the country as a whole. At the same time, the share of defense in the structure of expenditures of the consolidated budget for 2021 was only 6.91% or 127,527.3 million UAH, which gives grounds to argue that Ukraine was focused on the prospect of social development and to a lesser extent on strengthening its defense capabilities, that is, it was not preparing for hostilities.