The essence of efficiency as an economic category

The article considers approaches to the definition of the concept of "efficiency", its types in accordance with various features, its criteria. The main attention is paid to the theoretical developments in relation to the existing problems in the definition and evaluation of economic efficiency and its categorization. Efficiency is presented as the most important social and economic category which at skillful use of economic laws has qualitative and quantitative characteristics and on which set of factors influences: economic, natural, biological.