Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, village or subdistrict is the fourth-level subdivision below a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, and

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

. There are a number of names and types for villages in Indonesia, with ''desa'' (rural village) being the most frequently used for regencies and ''kelurahan'' (urban village) for cities. According to the 2019 report by the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, there are 8,488 urban villages and 74,953 rural villages in Indonesia.

Types of villages

''Kelurahan''

''Kelurahan'' is an

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

village terminology primarily used in

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, but also tiny parts of regencies. It is commonly translated to English as subdistrict. The leader of ''kelurahan'' is called ''lurah''. A ''lurah'' is a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

appointed by the

head. According to the Regulation of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 31 of 2006, a ''kelurahan'' can be created with the following criteria: *

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

: having at least 4,500 residents or 900 families within an area of at least 3 km². *

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

: having at least 2,000 residents or 400 families within an area of at least 5 km². *

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

West Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Barat – NTB) is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the western portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the exception of Bali which is its own province. Mataram, on Lombok, is the capital and largest ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

, Maluku, and Papua: having at least 900 residents or 180 families within an area of at least 7 km². A ''kelurahan'' must have a government office, an established transportation network, adequate communication facilities, and public facilities. If it no longer meets the above conditions it can be abolished or combined with other ''kelurahans'' based on the results of research and studies conducted by the city/regency government.

''Desa''

''Desa'' is a

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

village terminology used in the majority of regencies in Indonesia. However, several provinces have adopted their own terminology for their traditional villages (''desa adat''). The leader of a ''desa'' does not have a

status and is chosen by the public through an election. According to the Law Number 6 of 2014, ''desa'' and ''desa adat'' are legal community units that have territorial boundaries that are authorized to regulate and administer government affairs, community interests based on community initiatives, original rights, and/or traditional rights recognized and respected in the government system of the Republic of Indonesia. Variations of ''desa'' terminology in Indonesia include: * ''Gampong'' in

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

* '' Nagari'' in

West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5, ...

(except

Mentawai Islands Regency The Mentawai Islands Regency are a chain of about seventy islands and islets approximately off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. They cover 6,033.76 km2 and had a population of 76,173 at the 2010 Census and 87,623 at the 2020 Census. Sib ...

) * ''Dusun'' in

Bungo Regency Bungo Regency is a regency (''kabupaten'') of Jambi Province in Sumatra, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17, ...

( Jambi) * ''Kampung'' in some places in Indonesia: **

Lampung Lampung ( Lampung: ), officially the Province of Lampung ( id, Provinsi Lampung) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and ...

(in Central Lampung, Mesuji, Tulang Bawang, Way Kanan, and West Tulangbawang regencies) **

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3. ...

(in Berau and West Kutai regencies) ** Papua ** West Papua * ''Pekon'' in Pringsewu, Tanggamus, and West Lampung regencies (

) * In

, there are two forms of ''desa'', i.e. ''desa dinas'' (service village) and ''desa adat'' (cultural village). Desa dinas deals with administrative functions, while desa adat deals with religious and cultural functions. * ''Lembang'' in

Tana Toraja Tana Toraja ( 'Toraja Land' in Toraja language) is a landlocked regency (''kabupaten'') of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. It covers an area of and had a population of 221,081 at the 2010 census and 280, ...

and North Toraja regencies (

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sula ...

) * ''Kalurahan'' in

Special Region of Yogyakarta The Special Region of Yogyakarta (; id, Daerah Istimewa (D.I.) Yogyakarta) is a Provinces of Indonesia, provincial-level Autonomous administrative division, autonomous region of Indonesia in southern Java. It has also been known as the Special ...

Number of villages

Notes

* In other places, "dusun" is an administrative division form below "desa". * In other places, "kampung" is equal with "dusun", except in Bungo, Jambi.

References

{{Articles on fourth-level administrative divisions of countries