Types of settlements in Russia
Types of settlements in Russia, Soviet Union, and some other post-Soviet states have certain peculiarities with respect to the
English language traditions. Some terminology described here is obsolete and is used in historical descriptions.
The settlements of Russia are subdivided into two major categories: settlements of urban type and settlements of rural type.
Settlements of urban type
* (
gorod), translated as either
town or
city. The
Russian language has no separate words for "town" and "city". Officially, towns are classified by their population count (see below). Additionally, towns are clasified by their level of jurisdiction (
raion/
oblast/
krai/
republican/federal). In translation, the word "city" is traditionally applied to the towns with population of at least 100,000.
**Superlarge (): over 3,000,000.
**Larger (): 1,000,000–3,000,000,
**Large (): 250,000–1,000,000.
**Big (): 100,000–250,000.
**Medium (): 50,000–100,000.
**Small (): less than 50,000.
* (
posyolok gorodskogo tipa), translated as "
urban-type settlement" is a type of smaller urban settlements. There are several subtypes of urban-type settlements:
**Urban-type settlement proper—mostly urban population of 3,000–12,000.
**Work settlement ()—mostly urban population occupied in industrial manufacture.
**Builders' settlement ()—mostly urban population occupied in construction.
**Beach settlement ()—mostly urban population occupied in beach services.
**Station ()—mostly urban population occupied in transportation industry.
Settlements of rural type
* (
posyolok selskogo tipa), or simply "", translated as "rural-type settlement". The "rural-type" () designation is added to the settlements the population of which is mostly occupied in agriculture, while
posyolok () proper indicates a mix of population working in agriculture and industry.
There are also several other types of rural-type settlements:
*Larger rural-type settlements, with population of 500–3,000:
** (
selo)—translated as "
village".
** (
stanitsa)—historically, a
Cossack rural settlement. The name is still currently in use, with the basic meaning of "village".
** (
sloboda)—historically, a settlement freed from taxes and levies for various reasons. The name is still currently in use with the basic meaning of "village".
** (
dachny posyolok)—typically, a suburban settlement with summer
dachas.
*Smaller rural settlements, with population fewer than 500:
* (
derevnya)—translated as "village". (See a
satellite image of a typical Russian village of Maslovo, near
Tver.)
* (
khutor)—translated as "
hamlet" or "
farmstead", a rural settlement of one or several families.
* (
rybatsky posyolok)—translated as "fishermen's settlement", a shore settlement of the rural type with the population occupied in the fishing industry.
*In
automonous republics of Russia, national terminology is used in the Russian language. Such settlement types include (
aoul, or
aul) and (
kishlak).
Classification of rural-type settlements according to their population counts
*Large: over 5,000.
*Big: 1,000–5,000.
*Medium: 200–1,000.
*Small: less than 200.
Krepost (, a
fort), a fortified settlement. A
Kremlin, Russian citadel, is a major
krepost usually including a castle and surrounded by
posad.
Ostrog, on the other hand, was a more primitive kind of
krepost which could be put up quickly within rough walls of debarked pointed timber.
Posad (), a medieval suburban settlement.
Mestechko (, from
Polish:
miasteczko;
Yiddish:
shtetl), a small town in
Western Krai annexed during the
Partitions of Poland; typically with Jewish majority.
*
Subdivisions of Russia*
List of terms for subnational entities 
