The World Weightlifting Championships is an international weightlifting competition, currently held annually (except for years of the Summer Olympic Games) by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The predecessor organization of the IWF was founded in 1905,^[1] but World Championship events began before its foundation. The first recognized World Championship event was held in 1891, and was won by Edward Lawrence Levy of England.^[1][2][3]

Athletes today compete in a total of 20 weight categories (10 for men and 10 for women):

• Men categories: 55 kg, 61 kg, 67 kg, 73 kg, 81 kg, 89 kg, 96 kg, 102 kg, 109 kg and +109 kg.
• Women categories: 45 kg, 49 kg, 55 kg, 59 kg, 64 kg, 71 kg, 76 kg, 81 kg, 87 kg and +87 kg.

Competitions

Men

• The weightlifting tournaments held during Summer Olympics in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 are counted as World Weightlifting Championships of the corresponding year.

Women

Combined

All-time medal table

Total

All-time big (total) medal count below updated after the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	197	95	46	338
2	Soviet Union	151	90	33	274
3	Bulgaria	80	82	65	227
4	United States	42	54	33	129
5	Russia	39	48	34	121
6	Austria	32	27	31	90
7	Poland	25	38	57	120
8	Iran	25	15	28	68
9	Germany	24	34	27	85
10	Chinese Taipei	18	22	25	65
11	Turkey	15	19	17	51
12	Kazakhstan	15	8	9	32
13	Egypt	14	13	14	41
14	North Korea	13	22	24	59
15	South Korea	13	21	26	60
16	Hungary	11	38	42	91
17	Thailand	10	19	21	50
18	Greece	10	15	11	36
19	Japan	10	13	28	51
20	Colombia	9	16	14	39
21	Georgia	9	4	5	18
22	Belarus	8	8	8	24
23	Ukraine	8	7	19	34
24	Cuba	8	5	11	24
25	Romania	7	13	14	34
26	France	7	11	20	38
27	Indonesia	5	11	10	26
28	Armenia	5	10	13	28
29	Great Britain	5	5	10	20
30	Uzbekistan	5	5	4	14
31	Qatar	5	3	4	12
32	East Germany	4	19	29	52
33	Switzerland	4	4	2	10
34	Finland	4	2	10	16
35	India	3	9	5	17
36	West Germany	3	5	3	11
37	Estonia	3	4	6	13
38	Czechoslovakia	3	3	15	21
39	Azerbaijan	3	1	4	8
40	Italy	2	6	9	17
41	Vietnam	2	5	5	12
42	Norway	2	3	1	6
43	Turkmenistan	2	3	0	5
44	Spain	2	2	3	7
45	Australia	1	4	5	10
46	Latvia	1	3	7	11
47	Canada	1	2	5	8
48	Sweden	1	1	7	9
49	Bahrain	1	1	1	3
50	Chile	1	1	0	2
51	Venezuela	1	0	5	6
52	Philippines	1	0	3	4
53	Slovakia	1	0	1	2
	Tunisia	1	0	1	2
55	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
56	Belgium	0	4	3	7
57	Ecuador	0	3	9	12
58	Nigeria	0	3	3	6
59	Denmark	0	3	0	3
60	Netherlands	0	2	0	2
61	Moldova	0	1	3	4
62	Argentina	0	1	1	2
63	Albania	0	1	0	1
	Croatia	0	1	0	1
	Guyana	0	1	0	1
	Lebanon	0	1	0	1
	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
	Madagascar	0	1	0	1
	New Zealand	0	1	0	1
70	Dominican Republic	0	0	5	5
	Myanmar	0	0	5	5
72	Russian Weightlifting Federation [a]	0	0	3	3
73	Iraq	0	0	2	2
	Mexico	0	0	2	2
	Saudi Arabia	0	0	2	2
76	Brazil	0	0	1	1
	Macau	0	0	1	1
–	Individual Neutral Athletes [b]	0	0	1	1
Totals (77 entries)		873	873	871	2617

Big and small medals

All-time big (total) and small (snatch, clean & jerk, and press) medal count below updated after the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	588	277	152	1017
2	Soviet Union	331	208	93	632
3	Bulgaria	226	224	189	639
4	Russia	119	133	91	343
5	Poland	64	99	124	287
6	United States	60	93	79	232
7	Iran	55	43	52	150
8	North Korea	49	66	58	173
9	Turkey	49	56	47	152
10	Chinese Taipei	47	72	72	191
11	Hungary	39	89	107	235
12	Germany	36	43	36	115
13	South Korea	34	69	81	184
14	Thailand	34	52	51	137
15	Kazakhstan	34	31	28	93
16	Austria	32	27	34	93
17	Georgia	30	11	11	52
18	Greece	26	43	41	110
19	Cuba	26	22	36	84
20	Egypt	26	19	27	72
21	Belarus	25	26	33	84
22	Japan	24	50	74	148
23	Colombia	24	41	55	120
24	Romania	24	29	44	97
25	Ukraine	22	29	48	99
26	East Germany	20	61	71	152
27	Uzbekistan	20	17	15	52
28	Armenia	17	33	40	90
29	Indonesia	16	24	31	71
30	West Germany	13	14	15	42
31	France	12	21	33	66
32	Finland	12	11	22	45
33	Qatar	12	10	11	33
34	Norway	10	5	5	20
35	Vietnam	9	15	16	40
36	India	8	28	15	51
37	Azerbaijan	8	5	10	23
38	Czechoslovakia	5	14	40	59
39	Great Britain	5	12	23	40
40	Australia	5	8	17	30
41	Turkmenistan	5	8	5	18
42	Spain	5	6	17	28
43	Switzerland	5	5	3	13
44	Chile	5	1	1	7
45	Italy	4	13	17	34
46	Estonia	4	5	6	15
47	Philippines	4	1	8	13
48	Russian Weightlifting Federation [a]	4	0	7	11
49	Belgium	3	8	4	15
50	Sweden	3	4	12	19
51	Myanmar	3	2	8	13
52	Venezuela	3	1	16	20
53	Slovakia	3	1	4	8
54	Latvia	2	5	16	23
55	Moldova	2	4	7	13
56	Bahrain	2	4	2	8
57	Albania	2	3	3	8
58	Lithuania	2	2	1	5
59	Tunisia	2	0	4	6
60	Canada	1	10	9	20
61	Ecuador	1	8	26	35
62	Nigeria	1	7	13	21
63	Mongolia	1	3	2	6
64	Saudi Arabia	1	0	4	5
65	Iraq	1	0	2	3
–	Individual Neutral Athletes [b]	1	0	1	2
66	Dominican Republic	0	4	9	13
67	Croatia	0	4	0	4
68	Denmark	0	3	0	3
	Madagascar	0	3	0	3
70	Mexico	0	2	7	9
71	Lebanon	0	2	2	4
72	Nauru	0	2	0	2
	Netherlands	0	2	0	2
	New Zealand	0	2	0	2
75	Brazil	0	1	2	3
76	Argentina	0	1	1	2
	Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	2
	Malaysia	0	1	1	2
	Puerto Rico	0	1	1	2
80	Guyana	0	1	0	1
	Micronesia	0	1	0	1
82	Macau	0	0	3	3
83	Syria	0	0	2	2
84	Algeria	0	0	1	1
	CIS	0	0	1	1
	Israel	0	0	1	1
	Pakistan	0	0	1	1
	Peru	0	0	1	1
	United Arab Republic	0	0	1	1
Totals (89 entries)		2266	2262	2260	6788

• Names in italic are national entities that no longer exist.

Multiple medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 5 gold medals in total result. Boldface denotes active weightlifters and highest medal count among all weightlifters (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Rank	Weightlifter	Country	Gender	Weights	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Vasily Alekseyev	Soviet Union	M	+110 kg	1970	1977	8	–	–	8
2	Naim (Naum) Süleymanoğlu (Suleymanov, Shalamanov)	Bulgaria  Turkey	M	56 kg / 60 kg / 64 kg	1983	1995	7	1	–	8
	Yurik Vardanyan	Soviet Union	M	75 kg / 82.5 kg / 90 kg	1977	1985	7	1	–	8
4	Lasha Talakhadze	Georgia	M	+105 kg / +109 kg	2015	2023	7	–	–	7
5	Josef Grafl	Austria	M	Open / +80 kg	1904	1913	6	2	–	8
6	Tommy Kono	United States	M	75 kg / 82.5 kg	1953	1962	6	1	1	8
7	John Davis	United States	M	82.5 kg / +82.5 kg / +90 kg	1938	1953	6	1	–	7
8	Yoshinobu Miyake	Japan	M	56 kg / 60 kg	1961	1968	6	–	1	7
	David Rigert	Soviet Union	M	82.5 kg / 90 kg / 100 kg	1970	1978	6	–	1	7
10	Waldemar Baszanowski	Poland	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1961	1971	5	5	–	10
11	Arkady Vorobyov	Soviet Union	M	82.5 kg / 90 kg	1950	1961	5	2	1	8
12	Pete George	United States	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1947	1955	5	2	–	7
	Halil Mutlu	Turkey	M	54 kg / 56 kg / 62 kg	1993	2003	5	2	–	7
	Yanko Rusev	Bulgaria	M	60 kg / 67.5 kg / 75 kg	1977	1983	5	2	–	7
15	Mohammad Nassiri	Iran	M	56 kg / 52 kg	1966	1976	5	1	3	9
16	Kuo Hsing-chun	Chinese Taipei	F	58 kg / 59 kg	2013	2022	5	1	1	7
17	Chen Lijun	China	M	62 kg / 67 kg	2013	2023	5	1	–	6
	Viktor Kurentsov	Soviet Union	M	75 kg	1964	1970	5	1	–	6
	Lü Xiaojun	China	M	77 kg / 81 kg	2009	2019	5	1	–	6
20	Anatoly Khrapaty	Soviet Union  Kazakhstan	M	90 kg / 91 kg / 99 kg	1985	1995	5	–	2	7
	Stanley Stanczyk	United States	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg	1946	1954	5	–	2	7
22	Vladimir Stogov	Soviet Union	M	56 kg	1955	1962	5	–	1	6
23	Deng Wei	China	F	58 kg / 63 kg / 64 kg	2010	2019	5	–	–	5
	Om Yun-chol	North Korea	M	56 kg / 55 kg	2013	2019	5	–	–	5