World Championships - overall statistics
medal statistics
| Nation | gold | silver | bronze | individual categories only | |
| 1 |  FRA - France | 66 | 65 | 40 | (30/38/21) |
| 2 |  GDR - German Democratic Republic | 49 | 42 | 30 | (25/28/25) |
| 3 |  CZE - Czech Republic | 40 | 32 | 28 | (19/14/16) |
| 4 |  GBR - Great Britain | 38 | 29 | 42 | (23/17/17) |
| 5 |  TCH - Czechoslovakia | 33 | 45 | 42 | (16/22/26) |
| 6 |  GER - Germany | 33 | 32 | 30 | (19/12/19) |
| 7 |  FRG - Federal Republic of Germany | 27 | 27 | 29 | (16/9/12) |
| 8 |  SVK - Slovakia | 26 | 23 | 20 | (12/15/12) |
| 9 |  USA - United States of America | 25 | 24 | 20 | (16/20/13) |
| 10 |  AUS - Australia | 18 | 8 | 7 | (13/7/6) |
| 11 |  AUT - Austria | 15 | 12 | 15 | (10/6/7) |
| 12 |  SUI - Switzerland | 9 | 12 | 18 | (5/3/7) |
| 13 |  SLO - Slovenia | 9 | 8 | 18 | (6/4/6) |
| 14 |  POL - Poland | 7 | 14 | 17 | (5/8/6) |
| 15 |  ITA - Italy | 4 | 7 | 9 | (3/3/4) |
| 16 |  ESP - Spain | 3 | 7 | 10 | (2/3/8) |
| 17 |  YUG - Yugoslavia | 2 | 5 | 7 | (1/3/5) |
| 18 |  BRA - Brazil | 1 | 1 | 4 | (1/1/4) |
| 19 |  CAN - Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 | (1/1/0) |
| 20 |  RUS - Russian Federation | 0 | 2 | 4 | (0/2/2) |
| 21 |  NED - Netherlands | 0 | 2 | 1 | (0/1/1) |
| 22 |  NZL - New Zealand | 0 | 1 | 2 | (0/1/2) |
| 23 |  AND - Andorra | 0 | 1 | 1 | (0/1/1) |
| 24 |  CRO - Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | (0/0/0) |
| 24 |  JPN - Japan | 0 | 1 | 0 | (0/0/0) |
| 24 |  AIN - Individual Neutral Athletes | 0 | 1 | 0 | (0/1/0) |
| 24 |  CHN - People's Republic of China | 0 | 1 | 0 | (0/1/0) |
| 28 |  RCF - Russian Canoe Federation | 0 | 0 | 1 | (0/0/0) |
| 28 |  ARG - Argentina | 0 | 0 | 1 | (0/0/1) |
| 28 |  MAR - Morocco | 0 | 0 | 1 | (0/0/1) |