Any form of human habitation which ranges from a single dwelling to a large city is called settlement. The various types of rural settlements are as under:

1. Compact settlements: These settlements have a closely built area. Maximum settlements of our country comes under this category. These settlements are distributed over the entire northern Indo-Ganga plains, Orissa coast, Chhattisgarh, Assam in Tripura.

2. Semi-compact settlements: As the name suggests the dwelling or houses are not well knitted. Such settlements are characterised by a small compact nucleus around which hamlets are dispersed. It covers more area than the compact settlements. These settlements are found both in plains and classes depending upon the environmental conditions prevailing in that area.

3. Hamleted settlements: These types of settlements are fragmented into several small units. The main settlement does not have much influence on the other units. These are found in West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and coastal plains.

4. Dispersed settlements: This is also known as isolated settlements. These settlements are characterised by units of small size which may consist of a single house to a small group of houses. It varies from two or seven huts. These are found in tribal areas of Central part of India covering Chota Nagpur Plateau, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.