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Seniūnija is the smallest administrative division of Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. An eldership could either be a very small region

Region

Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...

 consisting of few village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

s, one single town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

, or part of a big city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

. Elderships vary in size and population depending on their place and nature. A few elderships make up a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

. Šilainiai

Šilainiai

Šilainiai is an elderate in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, built as a microdistrict in the 1980s. It is one of the largest elderates in the city, covering 25.33 hectares, and housing over 70,000 people as of 2006...

 (Kaunas) and Dainava (Kaunas)

Dainava (Kaunas)

Dainava is a fairly new neighbourhood located in the north of center of Kaunas, the second largest city of Lithuania. It has an elderate status....

 are the most populous elderates, with population counts over 70 000, exceeding the population of some entire municipalities.

Elderships manage small scale local matters, such as repairing pavements, dirt roads, keeping records on all families living in the eldership. Its premise is that unlike with higher administrative divisions, an elder

Elder (administrative title)

The term Elder is used in several different countries and organizations to indicate a position of authority...

 (leader of eldership) could have time to talk to every person in the eldership who wants to.

Modern Lithuania is divided into 10 counties

Counties of Lithuania

The territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 counties , all named after their capitals. The counties are divided into 60 municipalities : 9 city municipalities, 43 district municipalities and 8 municipalities...

, 60 municipalities, and 546 elderships. Elderships function as municipal districts. In cities, an elder is elected to each eldership district, along with a mayor for the city.

Note, historically the term was used for significantly bigger administrative units, e.g. Eldership of Samogitia

Eldership of Samogitia

The Duchy of Samogitia had been the administrative unit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1422 . Between 1422 to 1441 it was known as the Eldership of Samogitia...

 (also known for a longer period of history as Duchy of Samogitia).

See also

• Parish
  Parish
  A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
  
  
• Commune (country subdivision)
• District
  District
  Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
  
  
• Administrative divisions of Lithuania
  Administrative divisions of Lithuania
  -Grand Duchy of Lithuania :In the earliest stages of the formation of the Lithuanian state, there had been several lands , such as Nalšia, Deltuva and Lietuva, as well as others. They were ruled by regional dukes. When King Mindaugas unified the state, he killed, expelled, or subjugated most of...
  
  
• Seniūnaitija
  Seniūnaitija
  Seniūnaitija is the least administrative-territorial unit in Lithuania. Seniūnaitija is led by seniūnaitis who represents communities of inhabited places. Seniūnaitis are elected for 2-year tenure....