thumb|right|The main street of the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England. thumb|right|Masouleh village, Gilan Province, Iran. thumb|right|The main square of Saifi Village in Centre Ville, Beirut, Lebanon thumb|right|An alpine village in the Lötschental Valley, Switzerland.

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape (‘dispersed settlement').

Villages have been the usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture, and even for some non-agricultural societies. Towns and cities were few, and were home to only a small proportion of the population. The Industrial Revolution caused many villages to grow into towns and cities; this trend of urbanisation has continued, though not always in connection with industrialisation. Villages have thus been eclipsed in importance as units of human society and settlement.

Traditional villages

Although many patterns of village life have existed, the typical village was small, consisting of perhaps 5 to 30 families. Homes were situated together for sociability and defense, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed. Traditional fishing villages were based around artisan fishing and located adjacent to fishing grounds.

South Asia

India

thumb|right|A village in central India. "The soul of India lives in its villages", declared M. K. Gandhi at the beginning of 20th century. According to the 2001 Indian census, 74% of Indians live in 638,365 different villages. The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population less than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+. Most villages have their own temple, mosque or church depending on the local religious following.
View of an Indian village Home in a village of Pakistan

East Asia

Mainland China Main: Village (China) In mainland China, villages are divisions under township Lang: :Zh:乡 or town Lang: :Zh:镇.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, villages are divisions under president. The village is called a GRAM/GAON (村) under a rural township (鄉) and a li (里) under an urban township (鎮) or a county-controlled city.

Japan