As of 2025, only 22 countries have achieved at least a bronze medal in the tournament: 11 from Asia, eight from Europe, two from North America and one from Oceania. Africa is the only confederation that has not won a medal. Canada is the newest country to won a medal in 2025. At the age of 18,
Ratchanok Inthanon became the youngest winner of a singles title at the Championships. Ratchanok was less than 3 months older than
Jang Hye-ock was when she won the women's doubles title at the
1995 Championships.
Most successful players Several players have won gold medals in more than one category in a World Championship; this includes: •
Lene Køppen, 1977, mixed doubles and women's singles •
Christian Hadinata, 1980, men's doubles and mixed doubles •
Park Joo-bong, 1985 & 1991, men's doubles and mixed doubles •
Han Aiping, 1985, women's singles and doubles •
Ge Fei, 1997, women's doubles and mixed doubles •
Kim Dong-moon, 1999, men's doubles and mixed doubles •
Gao Ling, 2001, women's doubles and mixed doubles •
Zhao Yunlei, 2014 & 2015, women's doubles and mixed doubles •
Seo Seung-jae, 2023, men's doubles and mixed doubles From 1977 up to 2001, the medals were usually divided among five countries, namely China, Korea, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia. However, in 2003, the winners included seven countries and in 2005 and 2025 the medal board contained a record high of ten countries.
Tony Gunawan also bears the distinction of winning a gold medal in Men's Doubles, representing two countries, 2001 partnering with
Halim Haryanto for Indonesia and in 2005 partnering with
Howard Bach to give the United States its first medal in the competition. The 2005 edition also brought new faces to the mixed doubles event which had been dominated by China and Korea since 1997. With the retirement of defending champions and two-time winners
Kim Dong-moon/
Ra Kyung-min (Korea),
Nova Widianto/
Liliyana Natsir won Indonesia's first mixed doubles gold since 1980 when
Christian Hadinata/
Imelda Wiguna won it last for Indonesia. Below is the list of the most successful players ever, with 3 or more gold medals. Below is the list of the most successful player(s) in each category (listed according to their last title):
MS: Men's singles;
WS: Women's singles;
MD: Men's doubles;
WD: Women's doubles;
XD: Mixed doubles
Most successful national teams Below is the gold medalists shown based by category and countries after the
2023 BWF World Championships. China has been the most successful in the World Championships ever since its inception in 1977. They were the only country ever to achieve a shutout of the medals which they did in 1987, 2010 and 2011.
BOLD means overall winner of that World Championships : Korea won on the superior of two silver medals to China's one and thus Korea became the overall winner. : China won on superior of four silver medals to Indonesia's one and thus China became the overall winner. : China won on the superior of two silver medals to Indonesia's none and thus China became the overall winner. : China won on superior of four bronze medals to Japan's two and thus China became the overall winner. ==Championship per country==