National team appearances in the World Women's Handball Championship

This article lists the performances of each of the 50 national teams which have made at least one appearance in the IHF World Women's Handball Championship finals.

Debut of teams
Each successive World Women's Handball Championship has had at least one team appearing for the first time. Teams in parentheses are considered successor teams by IHF.

Participation details

 * Legend
 * – Champions
 * – Runners-up
 * – Third place
 * – Fourth place
 * 5th – Fifth place
 * 6th – Sixth place
 * 7th – Seventh place
 * 8th – Eighth place
 * 9th – Ninth place
 * 10th – Tenth place
 * 11th – Eleventh place
 * 12th – Twelfth place
 * MR – Main round
 * GS – Group stage
 * Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
 * – Qualified but withdrew
 * – Did not qualify
 * – Did not enter / Withdrew from the World Championship / Banned
 * – Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.