Top 20 rankings as of May 2023^[1]

Men's Rank Change* Team Points 1 1  Canada 4150 2 1  Finland 4080 3  Russia 4050 4  United States 3940 5 4  Germany 3835 6 1  Sweden 3800 7   Switzerland 3775 8 2  Czech Republic 3735 9 1  Slovakia 3690 10 1  Latvia 3610 11 1  Denmark 3500 12  Norway 3270 13  France 3240 14  Belarus 3175 15 1  Kazakhstan 3170 16 1  Austria 3135 17 2  Slovenia 2990 18 1  Italy 2970 19 1  Hungary 2950 20 2  Great Britain 2945

Women's Rank Change* Team Points 1  Canada 4250 2  United States 4220 3 1   Switzerland 3965 4 1  Finland 3920 5 1  Czech Republic 3890 6 1  Russia 3885 7  Japan 3775 8  Sweden 3665 9 1  Germany 3515 10 1  Hungary 3515 11  Denmark 3420 12  France 3375 13 1  Austria 3245 14 2  China 3210 15 2  Norway 3205 16 1  Slovakia 3125 17 1  Netherlands 3040 18 1  Italy 2955 19  South Korea 2935 20  Poland 2920

The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tournaments over the previous four years. The ranking is used to determine seedings and qualification requirements for future IIHF tournaments. The current leader in rankings is Canada in both men's and women's play.

Description

The system was approved at the IIHF congress of September 2003.^[2] According to former IIHF President René Fasel, the system was designed to be simple to understand and "reflect the long-term quality of all national hockey programs and their commitment to international hockey".^[3]

The ranking is used to determine the seeding of the teams for the next World Championship and to select the teams which can participate in Winter Olympics without playing in the qualifying round. For example, for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the first eight teams of the Men's World Ranking and the first six of the Women's World Ranking were pre-qualified. Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics was structured around the 2019 ranking. Twelve spots were made available for teams. The top eight teams in the World Ranking after the 2019 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. All IIHF teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams that wished to participate ranked below 36th played in two preliminary qualifications in November 2019. The two winners of the first preliminaries and teams ranked 27–36th were divided in three groups to play in the second pre-qualification round in December 2019. The three winners of those preliminaries joined teams ranked 18–26th for the third pre-qualification round of three groups in February 2020. The winner of each of these pre-qualification groups and teams ranked 9–17 were divided in three groups to play in the final qualification in August 2021. The winner of each group then joined the eight top-ranked teams plus the host in the Olympics in 2022.

The women's tournament uses a similar qualification format. The top six teams in the IIHF Women's World Ranking after the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship received automatic berths into the ice hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 16th and below were divided into three groups where they played in a preliminary qualification round in the October 2021. The three group winners from the round advanced to the final qualification round, where the teams ranked seventh through fifteenth joined them.^[4]

Formula

The world ranking is based on the final positions of the last four Men's or Women's IIHF World Championships and last Olympic ice hockey tournament. Points are assigned according to a team's final placement in the World Championship or the Olympic tournament. The world champion receives 1600 points and then a 20-point interval is used between teams. However, a 40-point interval is used between gold and silver, silver and bronze, fourth and fifth, and eighth and ninth. This is used as a bonus for the teams who reach the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the final and for winning the gold medal.^[1] Prior to 2023, the world champion received 1200 points, with other teams receiving the same point interval decreases.

Points awarded in the current year are valued at the full amount. Points award in the prior years decline linearly by 25% until the fifth year when they are dropped from the calculation. Under this formula, any year with a World Championship and an Olympics will be counted twice in the tables^[a], for a maximum ranking (gold medal in all five events) of: 5600 points at the completion of an Olympic year, 5200 points at the completion of the following year, 4800 points the next year, and 4400 points in the year before the next Olympics. For example, if after the 2026 Championship a team had won the gold medal in the last four championships and the last Olympic tournament, their score would be 5600:^[b]

Men's rankings

The Men's 2023 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020, and at the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament of 2022.

All tournaments in 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teams were awarded points based on their seeding for their respective tournaments. The Championship division received points based on the 2019 World Ranking, while the remaining divisions received points based on the previous year's results. For a fairer ranking and point distribution, the IIHF Council decided that the points for 2021 in case of tournament cancellations are given according to the ranking position of each team in the 2021 Pre-Championship Report – taking into consideration the results in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – rather than by seeding as in the past.^[5]

For the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia was still under a 2019 ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because of that country's state-sponsored doping scheme.^[6] On 19 February 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that individual athletes from Russia, who had consistently passed ongoing anti-doping tests, could compete under the acronym "ROC" (the full name "Russian Olympic Committee" could not be displayed), and that the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee would be used for the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the unchanged 2022 Winter Olympics.^[7]

Russia and Belarus were expelled from competing in the 2022 and 2023 World Championships because of their invasion of Ukraine. They were, however, granted the points of the positions they would have been seeded based on their 2021 ranking: in 2022, Russia in third place received 1120 points, and Belarus in 14th place received 860 points. Several nations withdrew from the 2022 World Championships over COVID-19 concerns. These nations similarly received the points of the positions they would have been seeded within their respective tournaments: Australia as second place in IIA received 560 points, New Zealand as third place in IIB received 440 points, North Korea as first place in IIIA received 360 points, Hong Kong as second place in IIIB received 220 points, and the Philippines as fourth place in IV received 100 points. ^[8]

The following table lists the full breakdown of ranking following the 2022 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships,^[9] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. Scores in italics represent minimum possible scores for unfinished tournaments. All tournament's points have their full value displayed, while the ranking is calculated by adding the current year's tournament points to the depreciated previous three years' tournament points as explained above. The depreciated percentages are shown in the column headings, first for the current total, then for the new total. The "Total" columns are the sums of the current tournament points and the depreciated values for past tournaments. The "+/–" columns indicate the increase or decrease in ranking since the last tournament. A dash in a tournament column indicates that the country did not participate.

2023 Rank	2022 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2023)	WC2023 (—) (100%)	WC2022 (100%) (75%)	OLY2022 (100%) (75%)	WC2021 (75%) (50%)	WC2020 (50%) (25%)	WC2019 (25%) (0%)	2023 Total	+/−	2022 Total	+/−
1	2	Canada	Championship	1600	1160	1040	1200	1200	1160	4150	1	3990
2	1	Finland	Championship	1420	1200	1200	1160	1120	1200	4080	1	4130
3	3	Russia	Expelled	1520	1120	1160	1060	1160	1120	4050		3935
4	4	United States	Championship	1500	1100	1060	1120	1040	1020	3940		3775
5	9	Germany	Championship	1560	1020	940	1100	1020	1040	3835	4	3555
6	5	Sweden	Championship	1440	1040	1100	960	1100	1060	3800	1	3675
7	7	Switzerland	Championship	1460	1060	1000	1040	1000	1000	3775		3590	2
8	6	Czech Republic	Championship	1400	1120	960	1020	1060	1100	3735	2	3650	1
9	8	Slovakia	Championship	1360	1000	1120	1000	960	960	3690	1	3590
10	11	Latvia	Championship	1520	940	920	920	940	940	3610	1	3255
11	10	Denmark	Championship	1340	960	1020	900	900	920	3500	1	3335
12	12	Norway	Championship	1280	880	880	880	920	900	3270		3105
13	13	France	Championship	1300	900	860	840	800	840	3240		3000
14	14	Belarus	Expelled	1260	860	840	840	880	780	3175		2965
15	16	Kazakhstan	Championship	1320	860	700	940	840	800	3170	1	2885	1
16	15	Austria	Championship	1260	920	800	780	780	820	3135	1	2900	2
17	19	Slovenia	Championship	1220	800	820	740	740	740	2990	2	2730
18	17	Italy	Division I A	1160	840	740	820	860	860	2970	1	2840	1
19	20	Hungary	Championship	1240	780	780	720	720	720	2950	1	2640	1
20	18	Great Britain	Division I A	1200	820	660	860	820	880	2945	2	2755
21	21	South Korea	Division I A	1140	740	720	760	760	760	2805		2600	1
22	22	Poland	Division I A	1180	700	760	700	660	660	2790		2480
23	24	Romania	Division I A	1120	720	640	660	700	680	2645	1	2375	1
24	23	Lithuania	Division I A	1100	760	600	680	680	700	2630	1	2385	1
25	25	Japan	Division I B	1080	680	680	640	640	640	2580		2320
26	26	China	Division I B	1040	600	900	500	480	480	2535		2235	1
27	27	Ukraine	Division I B	1060	660	620	600	600	600	2470		2180	1
28	28	Estonia	Division I B	1020	640	580	620	620	620	2400		2150	2
29	29	Netherlands	Division I B	1000	580	560	580	560	580	2285		2000
30	30	Serbia	Division I B	980	620	500	560	580	560	2245		1970
31	31	Croatia	Division II A	920	560	540	540	540	540	2170		1910
32	32	Spain	Division II A	960	540	520	520	500	500	2140		1825
33	33	Israel	Division II A	880	520	420	460	460	440	1950		1625	1
34	34	Iceland	Division II A	860	480	480	440	420	420	1925		1605	1
35	36	Australia	Division II A	900	560	—	480	520	520	1710	1	1310
36	37	Bulgaria	Division II B	800	420	380	340	340	320	1655	1	1305
37	35	Mexico	Division II B	740	400	360	400	360	360	1600	2	1330
38	38	Turkey	Division II B	760	340	460	300	300	300	1585		1250
39	43	United Arab Emirates	Division II B	840	360	320	200	220	200	1505	4	990	1
40	40	Belgium	Division II B	820	440	—	420	440	460	1470		1090	1
41	39	Chinese Taipei	Division III A	720	300	440	240	240	240	1455	2	1100	1
42	42	New Zealand	Division II B	780	440	—	360	400	400	1390		1010
43	44	Luxembourg	Division III A	640	280	300	280	260	260	1280	1	985	3
44	46	Thailand	Division III A	660	220	340	140	160	160	1190	2	785	1
45	48	Turkmenistan	Division III A	700	320	—	260	280	280	1140	3	725
46	49	Kyrgyzstan	Division III B	600	160	400	100	100	100	1095	3	710	1
47	47	Hong Kong	Division III B	560	220	280	180	180	180	1070		770	1
48	50	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Division III B	580	200	260	160	140	140	1040	2	685	1
49	51	South Africa	Division III A	680	240	—	220	200	220	1020	2	560	1
50	52	Kuwait	Division IV	440	80	240	120	120	120	770	2	500	1
51	55	Singapore	Division III B	540	120	—	40	—	—	650	4	150
52	53	Malaysia	Division III B	500	100	—	80	80	—	635	1	200
53	41	Georgia	Division II A	0[a]	460	—	380	380	380	630	12	1030	2
54	56	Iran	Division III B	520	140	—	—	—	—	625	2	140	new
55	54	Philippines	Division IV	480	100	—	60	60	—	600	1	175
56	45	North Korea	Division III A	—	360	—	320	320	340	510	11	845
57	—	Mongolia	Division IV	460	—	—	—	—	—	460	new
58	—	Indonesia	Division IV	420	—	—	—	—	—	420	new

Women's rankings

The Women's 2023 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020, and at the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament of 2022.

Most of the tournaments in 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teams were awarded points based on their seeding for their respective tournaments. The Championship division received points based on the 2019 World Ranking, while Divisions IA, IB, and IIA received points based on the previous year's results. Divisions IIB and III were completed and scored as scheduled.

For the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia was still under a 2019 ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because of that country's state-sponsored doping scheme.^[6] On 19 February 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that individual athletes from Russia, who had consistently passed ongoing anti-doping tests, could compete under the acronym "ROC" (the full name "Russian Olympic Committee" could not be displayed), and that the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee would be used for the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the unchanged 2022 Winter Olympics.^[7]

The following table lists the ranking following the 2022 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships,^[9] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2023 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. Scores in italics represent minimum possible scores for unfinished tournaments. All tournament's points have their full value displayed, while the ranking is calculated by adding the current year's tournament points to the depreciated previous three years' tournament points as explained above. The depreciated percentages are shown in the column headings, first for the current total, then for the new total. The "Total" columns are the sums of the current tournament points and the depreciated values for past tournaments. The "+/–" columns indicate the increase or decrease in ranking since the last tournament. A dash in a tournament column indicates that the country did not participate.

2023 Rank	2022 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2023)	WC2023 (—) (100%)	WC2022 (100%) (75%)	OLY2022 (100%) (75%)	WC2021 (75%) (50%)	WC2020 (50%) (25%)	WC2019 (25%) (0%)	2023 Total	+/−	2022 Total	+/−
1	1	Canada	Championship	1560	1200	1200	1200	1160	1120	4250		4160
2	2	United States	Championship	1600	1160	1160	1160	1200	1200	4220		4090
3	4	Switzerland	Championship	1500	1100	1100	1100	1060	1060	3965	1	3820
4	3	Finland	Championship	1460	1040	1120	1120	1120	1160	3920	1	3850
5	6	Czech Republic	Championship	1520	1120	1020	1020	1020	1040	3890	1	3675	1
6	5	Russia	Expelled	1460	1100	1060	1060	1100	1100	3885	1	3780
7	7	Japan	Championship	1420	1060	1040	1040	1040	1000	3775		3650	1
8	8	Sweden	Championship	1440	1020	1000	960	920	960	3665		3440
9	10	Germany	Championship	1400	960	860	1000	1000	1020	3515	1	3325	1
10	9	Hungary	Championship	1360	1000	920	960	940	920	3515	1	3340	2
11	11	Denmark	Division I A	1300	940	940	940	960	900	3420		3290	1
12	12	France	Championship	1340	920	880	920	900	940	3375		3175
13	14	Austria	Division I A	1280	860	900	860	860	860	3245	1	3050	1
14	16	China	Division I A	1320	820	960	740	740	740	3210	2	2890	1
15	13	Norway	Division I A	1240	900	840	880	880	880	3205	2	3060	1
16	15	Slovakia	Division I A	1220	880	820	840	840	840	3125	1	2960
17	18	Netherlands	Division I A	1260	840	740	780	820	800	3040	1	2775	1
18	17	Italy	Division I B	1160	780	800	820	800	820	2955	1	2800	1
19	19	South Korea	Division I B	1200	740	780	800	780	780	2935		2705	1
20	20	Poland	Division I B	1180	800	760	760	760	760	2920		2700
21	22	Slovenia	Division I B	1140	720	680	680	700	680	2705	1	2430
22	21	Kazakhstan	Division I B	1100	760	660	720	720	720	2705	1	2500
23	23	Great Britain	Division I B	1120	700	720	660	660	660	2680		2410
24	24	Spain	Division II A	1060	660	700	640	640	640	2560		2320
25	25	Mexico	Division II A	1040	620	640	620	620	620	2450		2190
26	26	Chinese Taipei	Division II A	1020	640	620	540	580	560	2380		2095
27	27	Iceland	Division II A	1000	580	600	520	540	520	2280		1970
28	28	Turkey	Division II B	860	540	580	580	500	500	2115		1930
29	29	Latvia	Division II A	1080	680	—	700	680	700	2110		1720
30	30	Hong Kong	Division III A	840	380	560	460	340	380	1860		1550
31	33	Australia	Division II B	940	560	—	560	560	580	1780	2	1405
32	34	Lithuania	Division III A	800	440	520	340	360	—	1780	2	1395	2
33	32	Bulgaria	Division III A	760	420	540	360	380	360	1755	1	1510
34	35	New Zealand	Division II B	920	540	—	500	520	540	1705	1	1310	1
35	36	Croatia	Division II B	880	500	—	480	480	480	1615	1	1220	1
36	39	Belgium	Division II B	960	460	—	400	420	420	1610	3	1075
37	37	South Africa	Division II B	900	520	—	420	440	400	1610		1155	1
38	38	Ukraine	Division III A	820	460	—	380	460	440	1470		1085	2
39	40	Romania	Division III A	780	420	—	440	400	460	1415	1	1065	3
40	31	North Korea	Division II A	—	620	—	600	600	600	1315	9	1520
41	41	Estonia	Division III A	740	340	—	320	—	—	1155		580
42	42	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Division III B	680	300	—	300	—	—	1055		525
43	43	Serbia	Division III B	720	320	—	—	—	—	960		320	new
44	44	Israel	Division III B	700	280	—	—	—	—	910		280	new