The IIHF U18 World Championship is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation for national under-18 ice hockey teams from around the world.

The tournament is usually played in April and is organized according to a system similar to the Ice Hockey World Championships and the IIHF World Junior Championship.

The tournament was first held in 1999.

The United States leads the tournament with eleven championships followed by Canada with five championships, Finland with four, Russia with three, and Sweden with two.

[1] Players who do not participate in the World Championship due to their respective league postseasons have the alternative of representing their country in the non-IIHF Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August.