The 69th Miss Universe competition will be held on May 16 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The competition will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET on FYI, the cable television channel owned by the A&E network. It will also air in Spanish on Telemundo.
The preliminary competition, which determines the top 21 contestants who will compete on May 16, will be held on May 14. The preliminary competition will be streamed live at 7 p.m. ET on the Miss Universe YouTube channel. Viewers can vote for their picks via the Miss Universe app.
The contest will be hosted by actor Mario Lopez and Olivia Culpo, who won Miss Universe in 2012, with a guest performance by rapper Pitbull. The contest will be broadcast in more than 160 territories and countries around the world.
The Miss Universe competition was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement in March this year, Paula M. Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, said: "We have spent months planning and preparing safety precautions to develop this edition of Miss Universe—one that will be memorable, special and totally innovative."
Around 10,000 women participate annually in the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA competitions organized by the MUO, according to its website.
Here we list the 74 contestants in this year's Miss Universe competition, in alphabetical order by country/territory represented. See more information about each contestant at the Miss Universe website.
2021 Miss Universe contestants
Albania: Paula Mehmetukaj
Argentina: Alina Luz Akselrad
Armenia: Monika Grigoryan
Aruba: Helen Hernandez
Australia: Maria Thattil
Bahamas: Shauntae A. Miller
Barbados: Hillary-Ann Williams
Belgium: Dhenia Covens
Belize: Iris Salguero
Bolivia: Lenka Nemer
Brazil: Julia Gama
British Virgin Islands: Shabree Frett
Bulgaria: Radinela Chusheva
Cambodia: Sarita Reth
Cameroon: Angele Kossinda
Canada: Nova Stevens
Cayman Islands: Mariah Tibbetts
Chile: Daniela Nicolas
China: Jiaxin Sun
Colombia: Laura Olascuaga
Costa Rica: Ivonne Cerdas
Croatia: Mirna Naiia Marić
Curaçao: Chantal Wiertz
Czech Republic: Klára Vavrušková
Denmark: Amanda Petri
Dominican Republic: Kimberly Jiménez
Ecuador: Leyla Espinoza
El Salvador: Vanessa Velásquez
Finland: Viivi Altonen
France: Amandine Petit
Ghana: Chelsea Tayui
Great Britain: Jeanette Akua
Haiti: Eden Berandoive
Honduras: Cecilia Rossell
Iceland: Elísabet Hulda Snorradóttir
India: Adline Castelino
Indonesia: Ayu Maulida Putri
Ireland: Nadia Sayers
Israel: Tehila Levi
Italy: Viviana Vizzini
Jamaica: Miqueal-Symone Williams
Japan: Aisha Harumi Tochigi
Kazakhstan: Kamila Serikbai
Korea (South): Hari Park
Kosovo: Blerta Veseli
Laos: Christina Lasasimma
Malaysia: Francisca Luhong James
Malta: Anthea Zammit
Mauritius: Vandana Jeetah
Mexico: Andrea Meza
Myanmar: Thuzar Wint Lwin
Nepal: Anshika Sharma
Netherlands: Denise Speelman
Nicaragua: Ana Marcelo
Norway: Sunniva Frigstad
Panama: Carmen Jaramillo Vanessa
Paraguay: Castro Guillén
Peru: Janick Maceta Del Castillo
Philippines: Rabiya Mateo
Poland: Natalia Piguła
Portugal: Cristiana Silva
Puerto Rico: Estefanía Soto Torres
Romania: Bianca Lorena Tirsin
Russia: Alina Sanko
Singapore: Bernadette Belle Ong
Slovak Republic: Natália Hoštáková
South Africa: Natasha Joubert
Spain: Andrea Martínez
Thailand: Amanda Obdam
Ukraine: Yelyzaveta Yastremska
Uruguay: Lola De Los Santos
U.S.: Asya Branch
Venezuela: Mariangel Villasmil
Vietnam: Khanh Van Nguyen Tran
The graphic below, produced by Statista, shows the countries/territories with the most winners in four major beauty pageants.
