This article lists the performances of each of the 70 national teams which have made at least one appearance in the Ice Hockey World Championships, an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), including the Olympic ice hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year, and was held before the first Ice Hockey World Championship as an individual event in 1930. With the exception between 1940 and 1946, when no championships were held during World War II, nor were held during the Olympic years 1980, 1984, and 1988. In 2020, the IIHF announced that all World Championship tournaments have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions-related issues.^[1][2]

Sweden has appeared in 81 out of 86 tournaments to date, with Canada, having participated in 76, and Finland in 69. The United States has appeared in 74 top division tournaments and five in lower divisions. Although the U.S. was unsuccessful at the 1969 World Championship, finished in last place in Group A (now Top Division) after losing all ten games. This marks the first time in men's world's history, the United States was relegated to Group B (now Division I) until the 1970 World Championship, the U.S. bounce back and finished in first place in Group B (7th overall) after winning all seven games and was promoted back to Group A.

Canada is the current World Champion, defeating Germany in the gold medal game at the 2023 IIHF World Championship. Since the IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992, Switzerland has appeared in two World Championship gold medal games, finished as the runners-up after losing to Sweden twice in 2013 and 2018. The United States is the only "Big Six" team to have never advanced past the World Championship semifinals and never appeared in every World Championship gold medal game.

Debut of teams

A total of 62 national teams have participated for at least one IIHF World Championship through the 2023 event, and two debuted in 2023. Each successive IIHF World Championships has had at least one team appearing for the first time, in alphabetical order per year. Teams in parentheses are considered successor teams by the IIHF.

Notes:

• Between 1920 and 1968, the Olympic ice hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year.
• Each of the national teams have made their debut that participate in the lower division of the World Championship.^[a]

Key:

•   †   – The Summer Olympic Games Ice Hockey Tournament held that year counted as the World Championship
•   *   – The Winter Olympic Games Ice Hockey Tournament held that year counted as the World Championship

Year	Debutants			Successor teams
	Teams	Number	CT
1920 †	Belgium,  Canada,  Czechoslovakia,[b]  France,  Sweden,   Switzerland,  United States	7	7
1924 *	Great Britain	1	8
1928 *	Austria,  Germany,[c]  Hungary,  Poland	4	12
1930	Italy,  Japan	2	14
1931	Romania	1	15
1932 *	None	0	15
1933	Latvia	1	16
1934	None	0	16
1935	Netherlands	1	17
1936 *	None	0	17
1937	Norway	1	18
1938	Lithuania	1	19
1939	Finland, Yugoslavia[d]	2	21
1940	No tournaments were held during World War II
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947	None	0	21
1948 *
1949	Denmark	1	22
1950	None	0	22
1951				Yugoslavia (Group B)[d]
1952 *
1953				West Germany[c]
1954	Soviet Union[e]	1	23
1955	None	0	23
1956 *	East Germany (Group B)[c]	1	24
1957	None	0	24
1958
1959
1960 *	Australia	1	25
1961	South Africa (Group C)	1	26
1962	None	0	26
1963	Bulgaria (Group C)	1	27
1964 *	None	0	27
1965
1966
1967
1968 *
1969
1970
1971
1972	China (Group C)	1	28
1973	None	0	28
1974	North Korea (Group C)	1	29
1975	None	0	29
1976
1977	Spain (Group C)	1	30
1978	None	0	30
1979	South Korea (Group C)	1	31
1980	No tournaments were held during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games
1981	None	0	31
1982
1983
1984	No tournaments were held during the 1984 Winter Olympic Games
1985	None	0	31
1986
1987	Hong Kong (Group D),  New Zealand (Group D)	2[f]	33
1988	No tournaments were held during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games
1989	None	0	33
1990
1991				Germany[c]
1992	Greece (Group C2),  Israel (Group C2),  Luxembourg (Group C2),  Turkey (Group C2)	4	37	Russia[e]
1993	Belarus (Group C),  Croatia (Group C),  Estonia (Group C),  Kazakhstan (Group C),  Slovenia (Group C),  Ukraine (Group C)	6	43	Czech Republic[b]
1994	Slovakia (Group C1)	1	44
1995	None	0	44	FR Yugoslavia (Group C)[d]
1996
1997
1998
1999	Iceland (Group D)	1	45
2000	Mexico (Group D)	1	46
2001	None	0	46
2002
2003				Serbia and Montenegro (Division II A)[d]
2004	Armenia (Division III),  Ireland (Division III)	2	48
2005	None	0	48
2006
2007	Mongolia (Division III)	1	49	Serbia (Division II A)[d]
2008	Bosnia & Herzegovina (Division III Q)	1	50
2009	None	0	50
2010	United Arab Emirates (Division III)	1	51
2011	None	0	51
2012
2013	Georgia (Division III Q)	1	52
2014	None	0	52
2015
2016
2017	Chinese Taipei (Division III)[f]	1	53
2018	Kuwait (Division III Q),  Turkmenistan (Division III Q)	2	55
2019	Kyrgyzstan (Division III Q),  Thailand (Division III Q)	2	57
2020	Tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	All lower division tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Iran (Division IV),  Malaysia (Division IV),  Singapore (Division IV)	3	60
2023	Indonesia (Division IV),  Philippines (Division IV)	2	62
2024	TBD	TBD	TBD
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030

With 62 national teams to have participated through the 2023 event, the IIHF World Championships is the third most participated men's world championship, behind the FIFA World Cup (80), and the FIBA Basketball World Cup (65), and ahead of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship (60), the IHF World Men's Handball Championship (58), the Rugby World Cup (26), the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup (25), the World Baseball Classic (23), and the Cricket World Cup (20).

Ranking of teams by number of appearances

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Sweden	81	1920	2023	Champions (11 times)
Canada	76	1920	2023	Champions (28 times)
United States	74 (5 in lower divisions)	1920	2023	Champions (1933, 1960)
Finland	69	1939	2023	Champions (1995, 2011, 2019, 2022)
Switzerland	55 (25 in lower divisions)	1920	2023	Runners-up (1935, 2013, 2018)
Norway	38 (31 in lower divisions)	1937	2023	4th place (1951)
Austria	34 (42 in lower divisions)	1928	2023	3rd place (1931, 1947)
France	34 (34 in lower divisions)	1920	2023	6th place (1920, 1924, 1928, 1930)
Italy	32 (37 in lower divisions)	1930	2023	4th place (1953)
Latvia	31 (4 in lower divisions)	1933	2023	3rd place (2023)
Poland	29 (45 in lower divisions)	1928	2023	4th place (1931, 1932)
Slovakia	27 (2 in lower divisions)	1994	2023	Champions (2002)
Denmark	21 (34 in lower divisions)	1949	2023	8th place (2010, 2016)
Belarus	20 (8 in lower divisions)	1993	2021	6th place (2006)
Great Britain	18 (42 in lower divisions)	1924	2023	Champions (1936)
Hungary	13 (53 in lower divisions)	1928	2023	5th place (1937)
Belgium	12 (45 in lower divisions)	1920	2023	7th place (1920, 1924, 1950)
Japan	11 (46 in lower divisions)	1930	2023	6th place (1930)
Kazakhstan	11 (19 in lower divisions)	1993	2023	10th place (2021)
Slovenia	10 (19 in lower divisions)	1993	2023	13th place (2002, 2005)
Ukraine	9 (20 in lower divisions)	1993	2023	9th place (2002)
Romania	8 (56 in lower divisions)	1931	2023	7th place (1947)
Netherlands	4 (56 in lower divisions)	1935	2023	8th place (1950, 1981)
Australia	1 (37* in lower divisions)	1960	2023	9th place (1960)
South Korea	1 (36 in lower divisions)	1979	2023	16th place (2018)
Lithuania	1 (29 in lower divisions)	1938	2023	10th place (1938)
Bulgaria	0 (51 in lower divisions)	1963	2023	14th place (8th in Group B) (1970)
China	0 (44 in lower divisions)	1972	2023	15th place (6th in Group B) (1982)
Spain	0 (39 in lower divisions)	1977	2023	22nd place (5th in Group C) (1977)
South Africa	0 (30** in lower divisions)	1961	2023	19th place (3rd in Group C) (1966)
Israel	0 (30 in lower divisions)	1992	2023	28th place (6th in Division I A) (2006)
Croatia	0 (29 in lower divisions)	1993	2023	24th place (4th in Division I A) (2001)
Estonia	0 (29 in lower divisions)	1993	2023	19th place (3rd in Group B) (1998)
New Zealand	0 (27** in lower divisions)	1987	2023	27th place (3rd in Group D) (1987)
Turkey	0 (27** in lower divisions)	1992	2023	32nd place (6th in Group C2) (1992)
North Korea	0 (27 in lower divisions)	1974	2019	21st place (5th in Group C) (1990)
Iceland	0 (23 in lower divisions)	1999	2023	30th place (2nd in Division II A) (2014)
Luxembourg	0 (22 in lower divisions)	1992	2023	31st place (5th in Group C2) (1992)
Mexico	0 (22 in lower divisions)	2000	2023	35th place (4th in Division II B) (2008)
Greece	0 (12 in lower divisions)	1992	2013	29th place (3rd in Group C2) (1992)
Ireland	0 (10 in lower divisions)	2004	2013	40th place (6th in Division II B) (2008)
Georgia	0 (9 in lower divisions)	2013	2023	30th place (2nd in Division II A) (2023)
United Arab Emirates	0 (9 in lower divisions)	2010	2023	35th place (1st in Division II B) (2023)
Hong Kong	0 (8 in lower divisions)	1987	2023	28th place (4th in Group D) (1987)
Bosnia & Herzegovina	0 (7 in lower divisions)	2008	2023	44th place (3rd in Division III B) (2022)
Mongolia	0 (6 in lower divisions)	2007	2023	45th place (5th in Division III) (2007)
Armenia	0 (5 in lower divisions)	2004	2010	43rd place (3rd in Division III) (2006)
Chinese Taipei	0 (5*** in lower divisions)	2017	2023	40th place (4th in Division III A) (2022)
Kuwait	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2018	2023	49th place (5th in Division IV) (2022)
Turkmenistan	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2018	2023	39th place (3rd in Division III A) (2022)
Kyrgyzstan	0 (3 in lower divisions)	2019	2023	45th place (1st in Division IV) (2022)
Thailand	0 (3 in lower divisions)	2019	2023	43rd place (2nd in Division III B) (2022)
Iran	0 (2 in lower divisions)	2022	2023	46th place (2nd in Division IV) (2022)
Malaysia	0 (2 in lower divisions)	2022	2023	48th place (4th in Division IV) (2022)
Singapore	0 (2 in lower divisions)	2022	2023	47th place (3rd in Division IV) (2022)
Indonesia	0 (1 in lower divisions)	2023	2023	55th place (4th in Division IV) (2023)
Philippines	0 (1 in lower divisions)	2023	2023	52nd place (1st in Division IV) (2023)

*Including participation in official qualifying competition for 1964 World Championships/Olympics.
**Not including participation in unofficial Group E 1997 Men's World Championships.
***Not including unofficial participation in the Pool D at 1987 World Championships.

Breakdown of successor teams

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Czech Republic (1993–)	30	1993	2023	Champions (6 times)
Czechoslovakia (1920–1992)	52	1920	1992	Champions (6 times)

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Germany (1928–1939), (1952 Winter Olympics), (1991–)	40 (3 in lower divisions)	1928	2023	Runners-up (1930, 2003)
United Team of Germany (1956–1964)	3	1956	1964	6th place (1956, 1960)
West Germany (1951–1990)	24 (9* in lower divisions)	1953	1990	Runners-up (1953)
East Germany (1951–1990)	14 (16** in lower divisions)	1956	1990	5th place (1957, 1965, 1966, 1970)

*Including participation in 3 official qualifying competitions for World Championships/Olympics 1956, 1960, 1964 where United Team of Germany played.
**Including participation in 2 official qualifying competitions for World Championships/Olympics 1960, 1964 where United Team of Germany played (1956 counted as usual as East Germany played in the Pool B at 1956 World Championships).

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
ROC[g] (2021–)	1	2021	2021	5th place (2021)
Russia (1992–2019)	28	1992	2019	Champions (5 times)
Soviet Union (1954–1991)	34	1954	1991	Champions (22 times)

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Serbia (2007–)	0 (15 in lower divisions)	2007	2023	26th place (5th in Division I B) (2022)
Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2003	2006	31st place (2nd in Division II Group A) (2003)
FR Yugoslavia (1995–2002)	0 (7 in lower divisions)	1995	2002	28th place (8th in Group C) (1995)
Yugoslavia (1939), (1951–1991)	1 (30 in lower divisions)	1939	1991	13th place (1939)

Also Switzerland "B" team played at the 1953 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool B, West Germany "B" team played at the 1955 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool B, Czechoslovakia "B" team played at the 1959 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool B and Yugoslavia "B" team played at the 1966 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool C but its results were not official and not counted in the final tables.

Results of host nations

Year Host nation(s) Finish 1920 †  Belgium 7th place 1924 *  France 6th place 1928 *   Switzerland 3rd place 1930  Germany Runners-up  Austria 4th place  France 6th place (tie) 1931  Poland 4th place 1932 *  United States Runners-up 1933  Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1934  Italy 9th place 1935   Switzerland Runners-up 1936 *  Germany 5th place 1937  Great Britain Runners-up 1938  Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1939   Switzerland 3rd place 1947  Czechoslovakia Champions 1948 *   Switzerland 3rd place 1949  Sweden 4th place 1950  Great Britain 4th place 1951  France 9th place (2nd in Group B) 1952 *  Norway 9th place 1953   Switzerland 3rd place 1954  Sweden 3rd place 1955 West Germany 6th place 1956 *  Italy 7th place 1957  Soviet Union Runners-up 1958  Norway 8th place 1959  Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1960 *  United States Champions 1961   Switzerland 11th place (3rd in Group B) 1962  United States 3rd place 1963  Sweden Runners-up 1964 *  Austria 13th place (5th in Group B) 1965  Finland 7th place 1966 Yugoslavia 11th place (3rd in Group B) 1967  Austria 14th place (6th in Group B) 1968 *  France 14th place (6th in Group B) 1969  Sweden Runners-up 1970 1971   Switzerland 7th place (1st in Group B) (promoted to 1972 Group A) 1972  Czechoslovakia Champions 1973  Soviet Union Champions 1974  Finland 4th place 1975 West Germany 8th place (2nd in Group B) (promoted to 1976 Group A)

Year Host nation(s) Finish Last round 1976  Poland 7th place (relegated to 1977 Group B) Consolation round 1977  Austria 17th place (9th in Group B) (relegated to 1978 Group C) Lower division 1978  Czechoslovakia Runners-up Final round 1979  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1981  Sweden Runners-up Final round 1982  Finland 5th place First round 1983 West Germany 5th place Consolation round 1985  Czechoslovakia Champions Final round 1986  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1987  Austria 11th place (3rd in Group B) Lower division 1989  Sweden 4th place Final round 1990   Switzerland 9th place (1st in Group B) (promoted to 1991 Group A) Lower division 1991  Finland 5th place Consolation round 1992  Czechoslovakia 3rd place Final round 1993  Germany 5th place Final round 1994  Italy 6th place Final round 1995  Sweden Runners-up Final round 1996  Austria 12th place (relegated to 1997 Group B) Consolation round 1997  Finland 5th place Second round 1998   Switzerland 4th place Final round 1999  Norway 12th place Consolation round 2000  Russia 10th place Preliminary round 2001  Germany 8th place Playoff round 2002  Sweden 3rd place Playoff round 2003  Finland 8th place Playoff round 2004  Czech Republic 5th place Playoff round 2005  Austria 16th place (relegated to 2006 Division I B) Relegation round 2006  Latvia 10th place Preliminary round 2007  Russia 3rd place Playoff round 2008  Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2009   Switzerland 9th place Preliminary round 2010  Germany 4th place Playoff round 2011  Slovakia 10th place Preliminary round 2012  Finland 4th place Playoff round  Sweden 6th place Playoff round 2013  Sweden Champions Playoff round  Finland 4th place Playoff round 2014  Belarus 7th place Playoff round 2015  Czech Republic 4th place Playoff round 2016  Russia 3rd place Playoff round 2017  Germany 8th place Playoff round  France 9th place Preliminary round 2018  Denmark 10th place Preliminary round 2019  Slovakia 9th place Preliminary round 2021  Latvia 11th place Preliminary round 2022  Finland Champions Playoff round 2023  Finland 7th place Playoff round  Latvia 3rd place Playoff round 2024  Czech Republic TBD TBD 2025  Denmark TBD TBD  Sweden TBD TBD 2026   Switzerland TBD TBD 2027 TBD TBD TBD 2028 TBD TBD TBD 2029 TBD TBD TBD 2030 TBD TBD TBD

Results of defending champions

Year Defending champions Finish 1924 *  Canada Champions 1928 *  Canada Champions 1930  Canada Champions 1931  Canada Champions 1932 *  Canada Champions 1933  Canada Runners-up 1934  United States Runners-up 1935  Canada Champions 1936 *  Canada Runners-up 1937  Great Britain Runners-up 1938  Canada Champions 1939  Canada Champions 1947  Canada Did not participate 1948 *  Czechoslovakia Runners-up 1949  Canada Runners-up 1950  Czechoslovakia Did not participate 1951  Canada Champions 1952 *  Canada Champions 1953  Canada Did not participate 1954  Sweden 3rd place 1955  Soviet Union Runners-up 1956 *  Canada 3rd place 1957  Soviet Union Runners-up 1958  Sweden 3rd place 1959  Canada Champions 1960 *  Canada Runners-up 1961  United States 6th place 1962  Canada Runners-up 1963  Sweden Runners-up 1964 *  Soviet Union Champions 1965  Soviet Union Champions 1966  Soviet Union Champions 1967  Soviet Union Champions 1968 *  Soviet Union Champions 1969  Soviet Union Champions 1970  Soviet Union Champions 1971  Soviet Union Champions 1972  Soviet Union Runners-up 1973  Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1974  Soviet Union Champions 1975  Soviet Union Champions

Year Defending champions Finish Last round 1976  Soviet Union Runners-up Final round 1977  Czechoslovakia Champions Final round 1978  Czechoslovakia Runners-up Final round 1979  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1981  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1982  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1983  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1985  Soviet Union 3rd place Final round 1986  Czechoslovakia 5th place Consolation round 1987  Soviet Union Runners-up Final round 1989  Sweden 4th place Final round 1990  Soviet Union Champions Final round 1991  Soviet Union 3rd place Final round 1992  Sweden Champions Final round 1993  Sweden Runners-up Final round 1994  Russia 5th place Final round 1995  Canada 3rd place Final round 1996  Finland 5th place Final round 1997  Czech Republic 3rd place Final round 1998  Canada 6th place Final round 1999  Sweden 3rd place Final round 2000  Czech Republic Champions Playoff round 2001  Czech Republic Champions Playoff round 2002  Czech Republic 5th place Playoff round 2003  Slovakia 3rd place Playoff round 2004  Canada Champions Playoff round 2005  Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2006  Czech Republic Runners-up Playoff round 2007  Sweden 4th place Playoff round 2008  Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2009  Russia Champions Playoff round 2010  Russia Runners-up Playoff round 2011  Czech Republic 3rd place Playoff round 2012  Finland 4th place Playoff round 2013  Russia 6th place Playoff round 2014  Sweden 3rd place Playoff round 2015  Russia Runners-up Playoff round 2016  Canada Champions Playoff round 2017  Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2018  Sweden Champions Playoff round 2019  Sweden 5th place Playoff round 2021  Finland Runners-up Playoff round 2022  Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2023  Finland 7th place Playoff round

Medal table

Countries in italics no longer compete at the World Championships.^[4]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada	28	16	9	53
2	Russia [h]	5	3	5	13
	Soviet Union	22	7	5	34
	Total:	27	10	10	47
3	Czechia [i]	6	1	6	13
	Czechoslovakia	6	12	16	34
	Total:	12	13	22	47
4	Sweden	11	19	17	47
5	Finland	4	9	3	16
6	United States	2	9	9	20
7	Great Britain	1	2	2	5
8	Slovakia	1	2	1	4
9	Switzerland	0	3	8	11
10	Germany	0	2	2	4
	West Germany [j]	0	1	0	1
	Total:	0	3	2	5
11	Austria	0	0	2	2
12	Latvia	0	0	1	1
Totals (15 nations)		86	86	86	258

Droughts

This section is a list of droughts associated with the participation of men's national ice hockey teams in the IIHF World Championships, including final appearance and world champion droughts up to and including the 2023 IIHF World Championship. Those teams which have not participated in any World Championship are listed by the year that they entered the IIHF tournaments.

Note:

• Does not include droughts between 1940 and 1946, when no championships were held during World War II, nor were held during the Olympic years 1980, 1984, and 1988, and 2020 championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Longest active final droughts

Does not include two teams that made the 2023 Final: Canada and Germany.

Team	Last appearance in the final	Subsequent semifinal losses	Drought
United States	Never (IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992)	12 (1994, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023)	32 years
Latvia	Never (IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992)	1 (2023)	32 years
Czech Republic	2010	5 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022)	13 years
Slovakia	2012	0	11 years
ROC[g]	2015	3 (2016, 2017, 2019)	8 years
Sweden	2018	0	5 years
Switzerland	2018	0	5 years
Finland	2022	0	1 year

Longest all-time final droughts

     Active final drought is highlighted

Team	Prev. appearance in the final	Intervening semifinal losses	Next appearance in the final	Drought
United States	Never (IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992)	12 (1994, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023)	active	32 years
Latvia	Never (IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992)	1 (2023)	active	32 years
Germany	Never (IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992)	2 (2010, 2021)	2023	31 years
Switzerland	Never (IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992)	2 (1992, 1998)	2013	21 years
Czech Republic	2010	5 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022)	active	13 years
Slovakia	2012	0	active	11 years
ROC[g]	1993	0	2002	8 years
Canada	2009	0	2015	5 years
	1997	0	2003
Sweden	2018	0	active	5 years
Finland	2001	1 (2002)	2006	4 years

Longest active champion droughts

Does not include the most-recent World Champion: Finland.

Team	Last Champion	Subsequent Final losses	Drought
Switzerland	Never (debut in 1920)	2 (2013, 2018)	104 years
Great Britain	1936	Never	87 years
United States	1960	Never	63 years
Slovakia	2002	1 (2012)	21 years
Czech Republic	2010	0	13 years
ROC[g]	2014	1 (2015)	9 years
Sweden	2018	0	5 years
Canada	2021	1 (2022)	1 year

Longest all-time champion droughts

     Active champion drought is highlighted

Team	Prev. champion	Intervening final losses	Next champion	Drought
Switzerland	Never (debut in 1920)	2 (2013, 2018)	active	104 years
Great Britain	1936	Never	active	87 years
United States	1960	Never	active	63 years
Canada	1961	Never	1994	32 years
Sweden	1962	Never	1987	24 years
Slovakia	2002	1 (2012)	active	21 years
Finland	1995	4 (1998, 1999, 2001, 2007)	2011	15 years
ROC[g]	1993	1 (2002)	2008	14 years
Czech Republic	2010	0	active	13 years

Longest active appearance droughts

Does not include teams that have not made their first appearance. Does not include droughts when all lower division tournaments were cancelled for two years (2020–2021) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team	Last appearance	WC Missed
Armenia[k]	2010 (Division III B)	12
Greece[l]	2013 (Division III)	9
Ireland[m]	2013 (Division III)	9
North Korea[n]	2019 (Division II B)	3
Belarus	2021	2
ROC[g]	2021	2

Longest all-time appearance droughts

Only includes droughts begun after a team's first appearance and until the team ceased to exist. Updated to include participation for the 2023 World Championships.

     Active appearance drought is highlighted

Team	Prev. appearance	Next appearance	WC Missed
Lithuania[o]	1938	1993 (Group C)	44
Latvia[o]	1939	1993 (Group C)	43
Hong Kong	1987 (Group D)	2014 (Division III)	25
South Africa	1966 (Group C)	1992 (Group C2)	22
Japan	1936	1957	13
Denmark	1949	1962 (Group B)	12
Hungary	1939	1959 (Group B)	12
Armenia	2010 (Division III B)	active	12
Australia	1962 (Group B)	1974 (Group C)	11
Romania	1947	1959 (Group B)	11
Greece	2013 (Division III)	active	9
Ireland	2013 (Division III)	active	9
Mongolia	2013 (Division III Q)	2023 (Division IV)	8
North Korea	1993 (Group C)	2002 (Division II Q)	8
Luxembourg	1992 (Group C2)	2000 (Group D)	7
Canada[p]	1969	1977	7
Great Britain	1953 (Group B)	1961 (Group B)	7
Bosnia & Herzegovina	2008 (Division III Q)	2015 (Division III)	6
New Zealand	1989 (Group D)	1995 (Group C2)	5
Netherlands	1955 (Group B)	1961 (Group C)	5
Germany[c]	1939	1952	5
France	1937	1950	5
Yugoslavia	1939	1951 (Group B)	4
China	1974 (Group C)	1978 (Group C)	3
Bulgaria	1963 (Group C)	1967 (Group C)	3
Norway	1938	1949	3
Sweden	1931	1935	3
United Arab Emirates	2010 (Division III A)	2013 (Division III)	2
South Korea	1982 (Group C)	1986 (Group C)	2
Italy	1961 (Group B)	1964 (Group B)	2
	1956	1959
	1936	1939
	1930	1933
Poland	1952	1955	2
United States	1952	1955	2
	1924	1931
Belgium	1952 (Group B)	1955 (Group B)	2
Czechoslovakia	1949	1952	2
Finland	1939	1949	2
Switzerland	1930	1933	2
Belarus	2021	suspended	2
ROC[g]	2021	suspended	2
Turkey	2000 (Group D)	2002 (Division II A)	1
	1994 (Group C2)	1996 (Group D)
FR Yugoslavia[q]	1998 (Group C)	2000 (Group C)	1
Spain	1986 (Group C)	1989 (Group D)	1
	1979 (Group C)	1982 (Group C)
Soviet Union	1961	1963	1
East Germany[c]	1961	1963	1
	1957	1959
Austria	1959 (Group B)	1961 (Group B)	1
	1957	1959 (Group B)
	1953 (Group B)	1955 (Group B)
	1949	1951 (Group B)
	1938	1947
	1936	1938

Teams with no IIHF World Championship appearances

22 out of 83 current IIHF members have not entered in any World Championship tournaments.

Nation	IIHF Member since	Notes
Algeria*	2019	Participated in the Arab Cup in 2008 and the IIHF Development Cup in 2022.
Andorra*	1995	Hosted the 1997 IIHF World Championship Group D tournament in Canillo. Participated in the IIHF Development Cup since 2017.
Argentina*	1998	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament from 2014 to 2017, the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2018 and the IIHF Development Cup in 2023.
Azerbaijan	1992	There is no national team and Azerbaijan has not registered at least one player, nor entered in any IIHF tournaments due to lack of ice rinks and ice hockey activities in the country.
Brazil*	1984	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament from 2014 to 2017 and the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2018.
Chile**	1999	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament in 2017. Currently an IIHF affiliate member and therefore only to participate in the now-defunct IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. Their last appearance was 2015. Due to the cancellation of the 2019 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship, the IIHF can no longer govern inline hockey.[8]
Colombia*	2019	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament from 2014 to 2017, the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2018 and the IIHF Development Cup since 2022.
India	1989	Only participated in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia from 2009 to 2018. India has not been active since 2018.
Jamaica*	2012	Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to join the IIHF on 18 May 2012.[9] Participated in the Amerigol LATAM Cup in 2019.
Lebanon*	2019	Played four exhibition games against other national teams in 2017. Participated in the Arab Cup in 2023.
Liechtenstein*	2001	Played two exhibition games, lost twice to Luxembourg in 2003 and 2007. Participated in the IIHF Development Cup since 2022.
Macau*	2005	Participated in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia from 2008 to 2019 and the Asian Winter Games in 2007 and 2017.
Moldova*	2008	There is no national team and Moldova has not registered at least one player.
Morocco*	2010	Participated in the Arab Cup in 2008 and the IIHF Development Cup in 2017.
Nepal*	2016	Unknown
North Macedonia*	2001	Played two exhibition games against Bosnia & Herzegovina over the weekend. They won the first game 8–7 and lost the second game 7–6 in overtime a day later.[10] Participated in the IIHF Development Cup in 2018.
Oman*	2014	Participated in the GCC Gulf Championship from 2010 to 2016, the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia from 2015 to 2019 and the Arab Cup in 2023.
Portugal*	1999	Participated in the IIHF Development Cup since 2017.
Puerto Rico*	2022	Participated in the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2019.
Qatar*	2012	Participated in the GCC Gulf Championship in 2014 and 2016, the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia Division I in 2016 and the Asian Winter Games in 2017. Qatar has not been active since 2017.
Tunisia*	2021	Participated in the Arab Cup in 2023.
Uzbekistan*	2019	Represented the Uzbek SSR at the Winter Spartakiad from 1978 to 1986. Uzbekistan has not been active since the USSR being dissolved in 1991 and therefore has not played an official game against other national team so far.

* – IIHF associate member, ** – IIHF affiliate member