National team appearances in the Ice Hockey World Championships
This article lists the performances of each of the 57 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. Sweden has appeared in 79 out of 84 tournaments to date, with Canada, having participated in 74, and Finland in 67. Although the United States has appeared in 72 top division tournaments and five in lower divisions. In the 1969 event, the U.S. was unsuccessful at the tournament, finished in last place in Group A (now Top Division) after losing all ten games. This marks the first time in  Men's Worlds history, the United States was relegated to Group B (now Division I) until the 1970 event, the U.S. finished in first place in Group B (7th overall) after winning all seven games and were promoted back to Group A. Canada is the current World Champion, defeating Finland in the gold medal game at the 2021 IIHF World Championship. Since the IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992, Switzerland has appeared in two World Championship finals, 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 struggled in the World Championship playoff round and never advanced past the semifinals. The U.S. has never appeared in the gold medal game. Debut of teams. A total of 57 national teams have participated for at least one IIHF World Championship through the 2019 event, and at least three will debut in 2022. 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: Key: With 57 national teams to have participated through the 2019 event	National team appearances in the Ice Hockey World Championships
980619	, the IIHF World Championships is the fourth most participated men's world championship, behind the FIFA World Cup (79), the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship (59), and the FIBA Basketball World Cup (59), and ahead of the IHF World Men's Handball Championship (53), the Rugby World Cup (25), the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup (25), the Cricket World Cup (20), and the World Baseball Classic (20). 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 	National team appearances in the Ice Hockey World Championships
980620	up to and including the 2021 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: Longest active Final droughts. Does not include two teams that made the 2021 Final: Canada and Finland." Longest all-time Final droughts. Active Final drought is highlighted Longest active Champion droughts. "Does not include the most-recent World Champion: Canada." Longest all-time Champion droughts. Active Champion drought is highlighted 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." 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 2019 World Championships." Teams with no IIHF World Championship appearances. 26 out of 82 current IIHF members have not entered in any World Championship tournaments. <nowiki>*</nowiki> – IIHF associate member, <nowiki>**</nowiki> – IIHF affiliate member