Two teams from the Americas zone no relation Canada
Latvia (host country)
Two teams from the Americas zone
 Canada
 United States (given that no challenges in the Americas zone were issued)
Seven teams from the 2012 European Curling Championships
 Russia
 Scotland
 Sweden
 Denmark
 Switzerland
 Italy
 Germany
Two teams from the 2012 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships China
 JapanTeams
With Mirjam Ott's Swiss rink losing in the Swiss Championships, there was no defending team at the 2013 Women's Worlds. Representing Switzerland instead was 1999 World Junior champion Silvana Tirinzoni. Returning from the 2012 World championships was the Margaretha Sigfridsson rink, who won silver in 2012 as well as in 2002 and 2009. The team was selected by the Swedish Curling Association, despite losing to Anette Norberg in the Swedish final, feeling that they would be a better representative. Also returning from 2012 was 2009 World Champion Wang Bingyu of China, 2-time European bronze medalist Lene Nielsen of Denmark, 2006 European silver medalist Diana Gaspari of Italy, reigning European champion Anna Sidorova of Russia and four-time World Junior champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland. Also, two-time world champion Andrea Schöpp of Germany, whose team represented Germany in 2012 is also returning, having missed the 2012 tournament due to a leg injury. Making her seventh appearance at the Worlds is U.S. skip, Erika Brown, who is a two-time world silver medalist. The host Latvian team was skipped by Iveta Staša-Šaršūne who finished last in her lone appearance in 2010. Making their World debuts was Canadian skip Rachel Homan, the 2010 World Junior silver medalist and Japanese skip Satsuki Fujisawa who is a two-time Pacific Junior champion. 
The teams are listed as follows:
no relation