The article considers the directions of improving social protection of the population in Ukraine and the main directions of scientific research. An analysis and generalization of scientific works on the issues of social protection of the population are carried out. Attention is focused on the need to study the historical experience of legislation on social protection of the population with the aim of its further use and improvement of modern legislation in this area. Social protection of the population is one of the defining areas of the state’s social policy, the implementation of its social function. Even with the traditional nature of the issues of social protection for sectoral legal sciences, a significant number of general theoretical aspects related to the essence of social protection require careful rethinking and further constructive coverage. Social protection law is developing on the basis of new concepts and principles. Its scope includes new social relations that were not previously included in the area of legal regulation. Since Ukraine gained independence until today, perhaps no other branch of law has undergone such radical changes. It was found that the definition of social protection as a set of interacting social and state measures of a legal, financial, economic, organizational nature, aimed at protecting the population from negative manifestations of social risks and creating prerequisites for the comprehensive implementation of social rights and freedoms of man and citizen. It was noted that social protection is associated with the social policy of the state, which is implemented in the interests of the main social groups of the population. Therefore, social policy is understood as the purposeful activity of clearly defined subjects, primarily the state, aimed at regulating social relations, social needs and interests of various groups of the population, related to ensuring their well-being and personal development. The imperfection of legislative mechanisms leads to a decrease in the economic activity of the population and the consolidation of dependent moods in society. In modern conditions in Ukraine, the problems of social protection are among the most urgent. The study of some aspects of the development of legislation in the field of social protection of the population of Ukraine is important for the successful resolution of urgent problems related to the improvement of current legislation, law-making and law enforcement activities.