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It is substantiated that mobilization of efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) against the background of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic provides for a radical rethinking of the priorities of agri-food policy. This concerns the improvement of the social development policy of the countryside and the solution to the problems of sustainable development of rural areas. The specificity of the concept of sustainable development of rural areas as interconnected into a single system of economic, social, and environmental goals and objectives is revealed. These include sustainable growth of the rural economy, diversification of its structure, the achievement of food security; increasing employment, the level and quality of life of the rural population, reducing interregional and intraregional differentiation, eliminating poverty, bringing the countryside closer to urban living standards; rationalization of the use of natural potential and preservation of the natural environment. Solving the problems of social development of the countryside contributes to the transition to an inclusive development model. The author's methodology made it possible to substantiate the criteria and indicators that characterize the level of social inclusion. By this approach, an empirical research base was formed and a comprehensive assessment of the social development of the village was given in the context of the following aspects: poverty of the population, the risk of poverty and poverty fields depending on the place of residence of the population; urban and rural unemployment; resources and final consumption expenditures, on average, per household member; physical and economic accessibility of basic food products for the urban and rural population. Measures have been formulated to facilitate the transition of the agri-food system to an inclusive development model and overcome negative trends in the postpandemic economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]