The obvious complexity of the research indicators of socio-economic security is the development of accurate criteria and threshold levels of security processes. Ensuring socio-economic security is implemented in the system of criteria and indicators. Thus, under the criterion of socio-economic security the paper proposes to understand assessment of the situation from the point of view of the most important processes that reflect the nature of socio-economic security. Criterion safety assessment includes the evaluation: the resource potential and possibilities of development; the level of efficiency of use of resources, capital and labor and its conformity with the level in developed countries, as well as the level at which threats to internal and external problems are minimized; the competitiveness of the economy; the integrity of the territory and economic space; the sovereignty, independence and ability to confront external threats; social stability and conditions for preventing and resolving social conflicts. In most cases, in the system of indicators of socio-economic security should be distinguished: the level and quality of life; rates of inflation; the rate of unemployment; economic growth; budget deficit; public debt; embeddedness in the world economy; the status of reserves; the activity of the shadow economy.