Muban is the lowest administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as village and sometimes as hamlet, they are the subdivision of tambon. As of 2008, there are 74944 administrative villages in Thailand. As of the 1990 census, the average village consisted of 144 households or 746 persons.
Mu, in the sense of group (of homes in a tambon,) are assigned numbers in the sequence in which each is entered in a register maintained in the district or branch-district office.
Ban, in the sense of home or habitation for members of each group, are assigned a number in the sequence in which each is added to the household register also maintained in the district or branch-district office. Each ban is registered in the name of a householder.
Assigned Ban and Mu numbers, together with the names of Tambon, District and Province, are used as geographic addresses by government agencies; Thailand Post adds a postal code. Village or Ban names do not usually form part of such official addresses, as explained below.
Ban in the sense of Village occurs in geopolitical toponyms on maps and Thai highway network signage, but these are not administrative subdivisions. Such village names may apply to an isolated muban, but typically apply to a group of adjoining ones, which often have been subdivided from the original settlement.
Each new mu is assigned a new number, in the sequence in which it is registered; existing homes or ban in newly numbered mu are assigned new numbers starting with #1. The village name of the original settlement is usually retained for the larger grouping.
Such village names are not part of a household address, unless Ban is retained as part of the toponym when such a settlement is upgraded e.g., a household in Ban Dan would be addressed as Ban No. Mu No., Ban Dan subdistrict, Ban Dan District, Buriram; or Tambon. Ban Dan A[mphoe].Ban Dan, Buriram 31000.
Note: Usage of the short form number/number for ban/mu is both unofficial and unambiguous in a tambon, but in city districts is restricted to subdivision of an original household registration into additional household registrations.
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