Abstract. The purpose of the article is to study the mutual influence of economic growth and economic development as well as its importance for transformational changes in both economic and social systems. Author identifies the essential common and distinctive features of economic growth and economic development and describes the dialectical mechanism of mutual influence of these processes, which is represented as the key to transition of economic and social system towards condition of a new quality that allows to satisfy increased society’s needs.

Keywords: economic growth, economic development, social development, production principle, post-industrial society.