that participate in the lower division of the World Championship. 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 With 62 national teams to have participated through the 2023 event, the IIHF World Championships is the second most participated men's world championship, behind the FIFA World Cup (80), and ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup (60), the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, the IHF World Men's Handball Championship (58), the Rugby World Cup (25), 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 Breakdown of successor teams Comprehensive team results by tournament Results of host nations Results of defending champions Medal table Nations in italics are no longer compete at the World Championships. 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 2022 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 2022 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: Finland. 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 2023 World Championships. Active appearance drought is highlighted Teams with no IIHF World Championship appearances 24 out of 83 current IIHF members have not entered in any World Championship tournaments. * – IIHF associate member, ** – IIHF affiliate