BWF World Championships
Badminton tournament
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ToursExplore Lably’s 3D toursThe tournament started in 1977 and was held once every three years until 1983. However, the International Badminton Federation faced difficulty in hosting the first two events as the World Badminton Federation, which later merged with the IBF to form one badminton federation, hosted the same tournament a year after the IBF World Championships with the same goals.
Since 1985, the tournament became biennial and played once every two years until 2005. Starting 2006, the tournament was changed to an annual event on the BWF calendar, except during Summer Olympic years.
Editions
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Venues
The table below gives an overview of all host cities and countries of the World Championships. The most recent games were held in Copenhagen. The number in parentheses following the city/country denotes how many times that city/country has hosted the championships. From 1989 to 2001 the world championships were held immediately after the Sudirman Cup at the same location.
Winners summary
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 win 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
National teams
Most titles
China have been the most successful country in the World Championships since its inception in 1977. They have won the tournament 21 times. The first time was in 1983 at their debut.
Most gold medal sweeps
China have taken all five gold medals at three occasions: 1987, 2010 and 2011. They are the only ones to have done so at any single championship.
Nation gold medals and tournament wins
Below is the gold medalists shown based by category and countries as of 2026 BWF World Championships. Ranking by total number of gold medals. Two shared gold medals count as one in total. BOLD means winner of championship.
Half a medal comes from two player from each own nation playing a double, which is allowed in individual tournaments under BWF. As late as 2026 Aline Müller from Schwitzerland and Kelly van Buiten from the Netherlands played a womens double together.
- ^1 Korea won on the superior of two silver medals to China's one and thus Korea became the overall winner.
- ^2 China won on superior of four silver medals to Indonesia's one and thus China became the overall winner.
- ^3 China won on the superior of two silver medals to Indonesia's none and thus China became the overall winner.
- ^4 China won on superior of four bronze medals to Japan's two and thus China became the overall winner.
- ^5 Korea won on superior of one bronze medal to France's none and thus Korea became the overall winner.
Disciplin win per country
Men's singles
Women's singles
Men's doubles
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
Medal table
Total medals
- As of the 2026 edition, does not include one stripped silver medal from 2014
Medal by discipline
Men's singles
- As of the 2026 edition
Due to the disqualification on suspicion of violation of anti-doping regulations, the 2014 silver medalist Lee Chong Wei was stripped of his medal and thus the medal count does not add up.
Women's singles
- As of the 2026 edition
Men's doubles
- As of the 2026 edition
Women's doubles
- As of the 2026 edition
Mixed doubles
- As of the 2026 edition