Villages of Indonesia

In Indonesia, village or subdistrict is the fourth-level subdivision below a district, regency/city, and province. 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, there are 8,488 urban villages and 74,953 rural villages in Indonesia.[1]

Types of villages

Kelurahan

The kelurahan office of Gelora, Central Jakarta, Jakarta

Kelurahan is an urban village terminology used in cities as well as a few part of regencies.[2][3] It is commonly translated to English as subdistrict. The leader of kelurahan is called lurah. A lurah is a civil servant appointed by the district 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 and Bali: having at least 4,500 residents or 900 families within an area of at least 3 km².
• Sumatra and Sulawesi: having at least 2,000 residents or 400 families within an area of at least 5 km².
• Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, 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.[4]

Desa

The desa office of Boludawa, Bone Bolango Regency, Gorontalo

The nagari office of Pangian, Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra

Desa is a rural village terminology used in majority of regencies in Indonesia.[3] However, several provinces have adopted their own terminology for their traditional villages (desa adat). The leader of a desa does not have a civil servant 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.[5]

Variations of desa terminology in Indonesia include:

• Gampong in Aceh[6]
• Nagari in West Sumatra[7]
• Dusun in Bungo Regency (Jambi)[8]
• Kampung in some places in Indonesia:[9]
  • Lampung (in Central Lampung, Mesuji, Tulang Bawang, Way Kanan, and West Tulangbawang regencies)
  • East Kalimantan (in Berau and West Kutai regencies)
  • Papua
  • West Papua
• Pekon in Pringsewu, Tanggamus, and West Lampung regencies (Lampung)
• In Bali, 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.[10]
• Lembang in Toraja and North Toraja regencies (South Sulawesi)[11]
• Kalurahan in Special Region of Yogyakarta.[12]

Number of villages

Provinces	Number of villages as of 2019[1]
	Kelurahan	Desa	Total
Aceh	0	6,497	6,497
North Sumatra	693	5,417	6,110
West Sumatra	230	928	1,158
Riau	268	1,591	1,859
Jambi	163	1,399	1,562
South Sumatra	387	2,853	3,240
Bengkulu	172	1,341	1,513
Lampung	205	2,435	2,640
Bangka Belitung Islands	82	309	391
Riau Islands	142	275	417
Special Capital Region of Jakarta	267	0	267
West Java	645	5,312	5,957
Central Java	753	7,809	8,562
Special Region of Yogyakarta	46	392	438
East Java	777	7,724	8,501
Banten	313	1,238	1,551
Bali	80	636	716
West Nusa Tenggara	142	995	1,137
East Nusa Tenggara	327	3,026	3,353
West Kalimantan	99	2,031	2,130
Central Kalimantan	139	1,432	1,571
South Kalimantan	144	1,864	2,008
East Kalimantan	197	841	1,038
North Kalimantan	35	447	482
North Sulawesi	332	1,507	1,839
Central Sulawesi	175	1,842	2,017
South Sulawesi	792	2,255	3,047
Southeast Sulawesi	377	1,911	2,288
Gorontalo	72	657	729
West Sulawesi	73	575	648
Maluku	35	1,198	1,233
North Maluku	118	1,063	1,181
West Papua	95	1,742	1,837
Papua	110	5,411	5,521
Total	8,488	74,953	83,441

References

1. "Peraturan Menteri Dalam Negeri Nomor 72 Tahun 2019 tentang Perubahan atas Permendagri nomor 137 Tahun 2017 tentang Kode dan Data Wilayah Administrasi Pemerintahan" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
2. "Nama Kecamatan, Ibukota dan Jumlah Desa/Kelurahan di Kota Jambi, 2015". Statistics Indonesia. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
3. "Nama Kecamatan, Ibukota dan Jumlah Desa/Kelurahan di Kabupaten Muaro Jambi, 2015". Statistics Indonesia. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
4. "Peraturan Menteri Dalam Negeri Nomor 31 Tahun 2006". Hukum Online. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
5. "Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 6 Tahun 2014 Tentang Desa" (PDF). People's Representative Council. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
6. "Qanun Provinsi Aceh Nomor 5 Tahun 2003 Tentang Pemerintahan Gampong" (PDF). Government of Aceh. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
7. "Peraturan Daerah Provinsi Sumatera Barat Nomor 7 Tahun 2018 Tentang Nagari" (PDF). Audit Board of Indonesia. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
8. In other places, "dusun" is an administrative division form below "desa".
9. In other places, "kampung" is equal with "dusun", except in Bungo, Jambi.
10. "Mendagri Setujui Perda Desa Adat". Bali Post. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
11. "Peraturan Daerah Kabupaten Toraja Utara Nomor 3 Tahun 2014 Tentang Pemerintahan Lembang" (PDF). Audit Board of Indonesia. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
12. "Peraturan Gubernur Nomor 25 Tahun 2019". Government of the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Retrieved 22 January 2020.