List of participants in ice hockey world championships

The list of participants in ice hockey world championships contains all participating national teams of world championships and for all nations the number of participations in the top division or total participations. A total of 57 nations took part in the 83 men's world championships organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF, 31 of which were in the A world championship or top division. As the 31st nation, South Korea took part in the top division 2018 . In the lower divisions, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore will take part for the first time in 2021 as the 58th, 59th and 60th nation respectively.

The ice hockey tournament at the 1920 Summer Olympics with seven participants is considered the first ice hockey world championship. In 1924 and 1928, the world champions were determined at the Winter Olympics, and it was not until 1930 that there were separate world championships. The number of participants rose steadily, so that in 1952 a B World Championship was played for the first time and from 1959 a B and a C World Championship were regularly played. From 1987 even a D or C2 group was played. By the collapse of the Soviet Union and SFR Yugoslavia , the number of World Cup participants rose 1993 / 94 by leaps and bounds. With the 2001 World Cup , the names of the lower groups were changed to Division I and Division II; In 2003 Division III and in 2020/21 Division IV were also created. In the 21st century, the number of Asian participants in particular increased. While there were five Asian World Cup participants in 2000 , 16 national teams from Asia will take part in the 2021 World Cup.

The IIHF regards the national teams of Russia, the Czech Republic and Serbia as successors to the teams of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The participations of these nations were added up accordingly.

Nations in italics will not take part in World Cup tournaments in 2021. The list is updated including the tournaments in 2021 .

Development of the number of World Cup participants

list

team	Participation in A-WM / Top Div.	Participations total	Tournament 2021
Armenia	-	04th	-
Australia	01	37	IIA
Belgium	12	57	IIB
Bosnia and Herzegovina	-	06th	IIIB
Bulgaria	-	51	IIB
Republic of China (Taiwan)	-	04th	IIIA
People's Republic of China	-	42	IIA
Denmark	19th	53	Top
Germany	65	74	Top
German Democratic Republic	13	27	-
Estonia	-	27	IB
Finland	67	67	Top
France	33	68	IA
Georgia	-	08th	IIB
Greece	-	10	-
Great Britain	17th	58	Top
Hong Kong	-	08th	IIIB
Ireland	-	10	-
Iceland	-	22nd	IIB
Israel	-	29	IIA
Italy	28	63	Top
Japan	13	46	IB
Canada	74	74	Top
Kazakhstan	09	28	Top
Kyrgyzstan	-	02	IV
Croatia	-	27	IIA
Kuwait	-	03	IV
Latvia	29	33	Top
Lithuania	01	27	IB
Luxembourg	-	21st	IIIA
Malaysia	-	01	IV
Mexico	-	21st	IIB
Mongolia	-	06th	(A)
New Zealand	-	26th	IIB
Netherlands	04th	59	IIA
North Korea	-	28	IIIA
Norway	39	69	Top
Austria	33	75	IA
Philippines	-	01	IV
Poland	29	72	IB
Romania	10	63	IA
Russia thereof Soviet Union	63 34	63 34	Top
Sweden	79	79	Top
Switzerland	53	78	Top
Serbia thereof Serbia and Montenegro  thereof Yugoslavia	01 - 01	54 11 29	IB
Singapore	-	01	IV
Slovakia	25th	27	Top
Slovenia	09	28	IA
Spain	-	38	IIA
South Africa	-	29	IIIB
South Korea	01	36	IA
Thailand	-	02	IIIB
Czech Republic of which Czechoslovakia	80 52	80 52	Top
Turkmenistan	-	03	IIIA
Turkey	-	23	IIIA
Ukraine	09	28	IB
Hungary	13	66	IA
United Arab Emirates	-	08th	IIIA
United States	72	77	Top
Belarus	20th	27	Top

IIHF members who have never participated in a world championship

The following IIHF members have never participated in world championships:

•  Andorra
•  Algeria
•  Argentina
•  Azerbaijan
•  Brazil
•  India
•  Indonesia
•  Iran
•  Jamaica
•  Qatar
•  Colombia
•  Liechtenstein
•  Lebanon
•  Macau
•  Morocco
•  Moldova
•  North Macedonia
•  Nepal
•  Oman
•  Portugal
•  Uzbekistan

as well as the former member Newfoundland , the affiliate member Chile and the former affiliate member Namibia .