Miss Universe

Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by the Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants.

The Miss Universe Organization and its brand is owned by JKN Global Group and Legacy Holding Group USA Inc., an American division of Mexican company Legacy Holding through the joint venture company JKN Legacy Inc. Telemundo had the licensing rights to air the pageant through 2023. The pageant's advocacy is "humanitarian issues and is a voice to affect positive change in the world".

The reigning Miss Universe is Fátima Bosch from Mexico who was crowned on November 20, 2025, in Pak Kret, Thailand.

History

The title "Miss Universe" was first used by the International Pageant of Pulchritude in 1926. This contest was held annually until 1935, when the Great Depression and other events preceding World War II led to its demise.

The current Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by Pacific Knitting Mills, a California-based clothing company and manufacturer of Catalina Swimwear, and it has since been headquartered in the United States. The company sponsored the Miss America pageant until 1951, when the winner, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose for publicity pictures wearing one of its swimsuits. In 1952, Pacific Knitting Mills organized the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, co-sponsoring them for decades.

The first Miss Universe Pageant was held in Long Beach, California, in 1952. It was won by Armi Kuusela of Finland, who gave up her title, though not officially, to marry shortly before her year was completed. Until 1958, the Miss Universe title, like that of Miss America, was dated by the year after the contest, so Kuusela's title was Miss Universe 1953. Since its founding by Pacific Mills, the pageant has been organized and conducted by the Miss Universe Organization. Eventually, Pacific Mills and its subsidiaries were acquired by the Kayser-Roth Corporation.

The pageant was first televised in 1955. CBS began broadcasting the combined Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1960, and as separate contests in 1965. In 1975, Gulf and Western Industries bought the Kayser-Roth Corporation. It owned the Miss Universe pageant until 1991, when Procter & Gamble bought it.

In 1996, Donald Trump bought the pageant from ITT Corp, with a broadcasting arrangement with CBS until 2002. In 1998, Miss Universe, Inc. changed its name to the Miss Universe Organization, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to New York City. By late 2002, Trump entered into a joint venture with NBC, which in 2003 outbid the other markets for the TV rights. From 2003 to 2014, the pageant was broadcast on NBC in the U.S.

In June 2015, NBC canceled all business relationships with Trump and the Miss Universe Organization in response to controversial statements about immigrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico. As part of the legal settlement, in September 2015, Trump bought out NBC's 50% stake in the company, making him the company's sole owner. Three days later, he sold the company to WME/IMG. After the change of ownership, Fox and Azteca became the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants' official broadcasters in October 2015. The Miss Universe Pageant's broadcast rights were temporarily split between Telemundo and FYI during the 2020 pageant amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The contract with Fox and emcee Steve Harvey resumed for the 2021 edition.

On October 26, 2022, Thailand-based JKN Global Group acquired Miss Universe Organization (MUO) from Endeavor Group Holdings-owned IMG Worldwide at $14 million, making Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip the first transgender woman to own the organization and marking the first time the organization moved its headquarters outside the U.S. Since the 2022 edition, NBC has regained the pageant's broadcast rights via The Roku Channel as a result of the ownership changes, marking the first time in Miss Universe history that the pageant has transitioned from traditional broadcast network coverage to full streaming service in the U.S.

On November 16, 2023, Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, announced her departure from the Miss Universe Organization. She will not be replaced. On February 8, 2024, Miss Universe Organization CEO Amy Emmerich also announced her departure. She left the organization on March 1, 2024. On December 13, 2025 Mario Búcaro has resigned as Chief Executive Officer of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) fewer than two months after assuming the position. His departure was confirmed in a press release that also outlined his contributions to the global pageant organization.

Contestant selection

To participate in Miss Universe, a country needs a local company or person to buy the competition's local rights through a franchise fee. The fee includes the rights of image, brand, and everything related to the pageant. Often the owner of the franchise returns the franchise to the Miss Universe Organization, which resells it to a new stakeholder. The reselling of the franchise from one owner to another has occurred often in the event's history, sometimes for contractual breaches or financial reasons. The number of participants fluctuates annually because of the franchising of the pageant paired with conflicting schedules to the regular calendar, but has steadied above 70 countries since 1989.

Usually a country's candidate selection involves pageants in the nation's local subdivisions, where local winners compete in a national pageant, but there are some countries who opt for an internal selection. For example, from 2000 to 2004, Australian delegates were chosen by a modeling agency. Although the Miss Universe Organization generally discourages such "castings", Jennifer Hawkins was chosen to represent Australia in Miss Universe 2004 and won the crown. Australia reinstated its national pageant for Miss Universe in 2005.

Recent countries that debuted in the pageant include Cameroon (2020), Bahrain (2021), Bhutan (2022), Pakistan (2023), Belarus, Eritrea, Guinea, Macau, Maldives, Moldova, North Macedonia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan (2024). Macau is the latest newcomer and the most recent country to obtain its first ever semifinal placement at Miss Universe, after debuting in 2024 as a semifinalist in the Top 30.

Botswana remains the most recent first-time entry to win Miss Universe in its debut year (with Mpule Kwelagobe in 1999), and Denmark is the most recent country to obtain its first ever national win in Miss Universe (with Victoria Kjær Theilvig in 2024).

Cultural barriers, particularly with the swimsuit competition, and the event's franchise fees have prevented some countries, such as Mozambique, from participating. Nevertheless, the Miss Universe Pageant has been popular in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, especially in the United States, Philippines, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, South Africa, France, Thailand, and Indonesia, given their track record of multiple semifinal appearances in the last decade and combined titles in the competition's history. As of 2024, only two countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada and France.

Since 2012, openly transgender women have been allowed to compete. Six years after this rule went into effect, Angela Ponce of Spain became the first openly transgender competitor, in the 2018 edition. In 2019, Myanmar's Swe Zin Htet became the first out lesbian to compete. Spain's Patricia Yurena Rodríguez is the highest-placed LGBT member at Miss Universe, placing second to Venezuela's Gabriela Isler in 2013, but did not come out until years after the competition. In 2021, the Philippines' Beatrice Gomez became the first openly bisexual (and LGBT) contestant to enter the Miss Universe semifinals, after finishing as a finalist in the Top 5 that year. In 2023, Portugal's Marina Machete became the first transgender contestant to enter the Miss Universe semifinals, after finishing as a semifinalist in the Top 20.

Previously, official rules said that pageant contestants "must not have ever been married, not had a marriage annulled nor given birth to, or parented a child. The titleholders are also required to remain unmarried throughout their reign." But in August 2022, the Miss Universe Organization announced that mothers, married, or pregnant women are eligible. This rule has been in effect since 2023. Accepting married contestants renewed tension between the U.S.-based Miss Universe pageant and the Europe-based Mrs. Universe pageant, which was previously the only avenue for married women to compete for the Universe title. Later in 2023, Colombia's Camila Avella became the first candidate to become a mother before clinching a semifinal placement at Miss Universe, after finishing as a finalist in the Top 5.

Miss Universe has always strictly prohibited age fabrication. While the pageant's minimum age has been set at 18, this presents a problem for several European countries that allow 17-year-olds to compete in their pageants. National titleholders under 18 must be replaced by their runners-up or another candidate in the main pageant. In recent years, all Miss Universe candidates have been required to be at least university degree holders or working professionals from the onset of their national pageants. In September 2023, R'Bonney Gabriel announced that the organization would be drop the upper age limit. Previously, contestants had to be less than 29 years old at the start of the pageant. Beginning in 2024, "every adult woman in the world will be eligible to compete to be Miss Universe."