Development of social entrepreneurship in the countries of the European Union

The article deals with the experience of social entrepreneurship development in the European Union countries. Our analysis has shown that social entrepreneurship is actively developing and functioning in many socially useful areas, contributes to the effective interaction of fundamentally important areas of the economy in addressing socially important issues. The main activities of social enterprises can be divided into three groups. The first group is focused on providing socially important goods and services, the second group is focused on employment and socialization of people with disabilities, and the third group is focused on addressing broader social issues related to sustainable development goals. Nevertheless, assessment of the overall state of the social entrepreneurship sector is a rather complicated task. This is due to the legal status of social entrepreneurship and the diversity of its organizational and legal forms, which causes certain difficulties in its monitoring.