IHF World Women's Handball Championship

The World Women's Handball Championship has been organized by the International Handball Federation since 1957.

Early beginnings
The first tournament of the World Women's Handball Championship was held in 1957 in Yugoslavia with nine teams all from the central and eastern Europe competing in the tournament. The format was in three groups of three with the top two qualifying through to the second round where they were split into two groups of three with the winners of each group playing in the final. That first final would see Czechoslovakia defeat Yugoslavia by a score of 10-3.

The next tournament in 1962 saw the first team from Asia compete with Japan competing in the tournament but they would go on to finish bottom of the rankings as Czechoslovakia once again took out the title defeating Denmark in the final 8-6.

Medal table
IHF only includes medals won at the indoor championships.