Citizenship remains one of the most important topics related to the development of society and its statehood. Moreover, modernity puts forward new problems and issues that require theoretical understanding and practical solutions in the interests of sustainable development of society as a whole in the paradigm of values that do not contradict the rights and freedoms of man and citizen in the understanding of the advanced part of the planet’s population. The analysis shows that there are about two dozen concepts of citizenship that, from a scientific and practical point of view, are of significant interest and require in-depth study, but the format of the article does not allow this. In this regard, the article focuses only on the most popular ones, but nevertheless there are some debatable points. According to the authors, the concept of ‘citizenship is a legal status’ deserves more attention and analysis. Moreover, they believe that of all the concepts used to characterize citi-zenship, ‘legal status’ is not only the key one, but most accurately corresponds to the nature of citizenship. The article substantiates this assertion. It is noted that the dignity and value of citizenship as a status lies at least in the following: allowing one to get away from what divides people on various grounds, in particular, according to ethnic and religious criteria, it contributes to their unity, the unification of people into one civil nation on the basis that there is a common good, a common benefit, a common interest for everyone. To be a citizen of a particular sovereign state means to be a full-fledged subject of law, a party and participant in all legal relations that are significant for them, society and the state.