At the end of the event, Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa crowned Andrea Meza of Mexico as Miss Universe 2020.

[5] On 3 March 2021, the Miss Universe Organization announced that the competition would be at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, United States, on 16 May 2021.Denying rumors that the pageant would be canceled or that the first runner-up in the previous pageant Madison Anderson from Puerto Rico would be crowned Miss Universe 2020.

Due to the pandemic, this edition only allowed 1,750 spectators, around a quarter of the venue's seating capacity.

Twenty-eight of the delegates were in this condition and they were: Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mauritius, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, and Ukraine.

[12] Magdalena Kasiborska, Miss Polski 2019, was expected to represent Poland but was forced to withdraw after suffering from a spinal disc herniation.

[17] In addition to Bangladesh, a record of eighteen other countries and territories withdrew due to the franchise owners change or the restrictions caused by the pandemics including Angola, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Germany, Guam, Kenya, Lithuania, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Tanzania, Turkey, and the US Virgin Islands.

[18] § – Voted into the Top 21 by viewers Due to restrictive measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Miss Universe Organization implemented specific changes to the format of this edition.

The twenty-one semi-finalists then competed directly in the swimsuit competition and were narrowed down to ten afterward.