For further theoretical development of the methodology of public health as a medical and social resource of society, it is extremely important to identify the existing foreign and domestic science conceptual approaches to the interpretation of the theoretical concepts of «society», «community», «population», «population» and their relationship. The aim of the study: to define the theoretical concept «society», its relationship with the concepts of «community», «population», «population» taking into account the existing foreign and domestic science conceptual approaches to the interpretation of these theoretical concepts in order to further take them into account in the development of more effective strategies to improve public health as a medical and social resource of society, ensuring national security. Material and methods. Desk study: the WHO recommendations «Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health» and GOST R ISO 31000—2019 standard were used as a methodological approach. The authors analysed scientific articles on the subject of the study published in scientific databases: PUBMED and eLIBRARY. The search was carried out using the keywords «society», «community», «population», «population» in the keywords of the publication. Subsequent analysis of the obtained list of papers was performed using manual sorting. The total number of analysed scientific articles on the subject of the study was 61, with 31 articles in PUBMED and 29 in eLIBRARY. Results. There are many different interpretations of the concepts of «society» and «community», «population», «population». The main problem in defining these terms is the lack of unity of terminology, unity of interpretation of concepts, correlation with the concept of public health as a medical and social resource of society. The authors from the point of view of system analysis give their definition of the concept of «society» and its main structural elements and links and show its relationship with the concept of «community», explaining that the concepts of «society» and «community» have both common features and specific differences. They are interrelated and complement each other, creating a multi-level structure of social interactions. Conclusion. The main problem in defining the theoretical terms «society», «community» is the lack of unity of terminology, unity of interpretation of concepts. The system approach allows us to study society as a complex, multi-layered structure consisting of various elements that interact with each other. The authors have defined the concept of «society» and «community» and developed a scheme showing the main parts of society as a system.

society, community, public health, social determinants of public health.