Contestant selection Miss Universe

local organizations wish select miss universe contestant countries must submit bids miss universe organization right. occasionally, traditional license holder particular country may lose bid, has happened in italy, denmark, france, sweden, germany, great britain, thailand, , more.

usually country s candidate selection involves pageants in major cities, winners compete in national pageant, there exceptions. example, 2000 2004, australian delegates chosen modelling agency. although such castings discouraged miss universe organization, miss australia jennifer hawkins chosen represent in miss universe in 2004 (where win crown). when australia resumed national pageant, michelle guy became miss universe australia 2005.

recent arrivals in pageant include slovenia (2001), china , albania (2002), vietnam, georgia , ethiopia (2004), latvia (2005), kazakhstan (2006), tanzania (2007), kosovo (2008), gabon , lithuania (2012), azerbaijan (2013), sierra leone (2016), , cambodia, laos , nepal (2017); there have been efforts revive strong national pageants in, south africa, canada, spain, japan, southeast asia , latin america. organization makes continual efforts expand pageant, participation of countries such algeria has proven difficult due cultural barriers swimsuit competition, while others such mozambique have balked @ sending representatives due cost.

as of 2016, 3 countries have been present @ every miss universe since inception in 1952: canada, france , germany (actually west germany until 1990, when east , west reunified). many european countries allow 17-year-old contestants compete in pageants, while miss universe s minimum age 18, national titleholders have replaced runners-up. beginning in 2012, transgender women allowed compete, long win national pageants. since inception, miss universe strictly prohibits age fabrication.

some of successful national pageants in last decade have been venezuela, usa, france, philippines, , colombia command consistently high interest , television ratings in respective countries. live broadcasts of miss universe pageant (regardless of hosting nation) proved highly popular particularly in americas , asia in recent years.