| Tourney Name: | IIHF World U20 Championship |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Size: | 200px |
| Country: | Soviet Union |
| Dates: | December 26, 1987 – January 4, 1988 |
| Num Teams: | 8 |
| Cities: | 1 |
| Venues: | 1 |
| Type: | ihj |
| Winners: | Canada |
| Count: | 3 |
| Second: | Soviet Union |
| Third: | Finland |
| Fourth: | Czechoslovakia |
| Games: | 28 |
| Goals: | 247 |
| Attendance: | 46220 |
| Points: | 18 |
| Nextseason: | 1989 |
The 1988 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 12th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held in Moscow, Soviet Union. Canada and the Soviet Union won the gold and silver medals respectively as the two nations redeemed themselves following their mutual disqualification in the 1987 tournament as a result of the Punch-up in Piestany. Finland won the bronze medal.
The 1988 tournament was a round-robin format, with the top three teams winning gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Poland was relegated to Pool B for 1989.
| width=30 | Rank | width=150 | Player | Country | width=20 | width=20 | width=30 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 9 | 18 | |||||||
| 2 | 6 | 9 | 15 | |||||||
| 3 | 9 | 5 | 14 | |||||||
| 3 | 6 | 6 | 12 | |||||||
| 5 | 6 | 5 | 11 | |||||||
| 6 | 3 | 8 | 11 | |||||||
| 6 | 3 | 8 | 11 | |||||||
| 8 | 5 | 4 | 9 | |||||||
| 9 | 4 | 5 | 9 | |||||||
| 10 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Media All-Star Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Goaltender |  Jimmy Waite | ||
| Defencemen | Greg Hawgood Teppo Numminen | ||
| Forwards | Alexander Mogilny Theoren Fleury Petr Hrbek |
Eight teams contested the second tier this year in Sapporo Japan from March 12 to 21. It was played in a simple round robin format, each team playing seven games.
Eight teams contested the third tier this year in Belluno and Feltre, Italy from March 18 to 27. It was played in a simple round robin format, each team playing seven games. The North Korean juniors debuted this year.