[5] The current Miss World is Krystyna Pyszková of the Czech Republic who was crowned on 9 March 2024 in Mumbai, India.

The swimsuit competition was intended as a promotion for the bikini,[8] which had only recently been introduced to the market and was still widely regarded as immodest.

When the 1951 Miss World pageant winner, Kerstin "Kiki" Hakansson from Sweden, was crowned in a bikini, it added to the controversy.

[11] In Miss World 2013 all participants wore a one-piece swimsuit plus a traditional sarong below the waist as a compromise with local culture.

[21] In 1984, BBC1 controller Michael Grade announced that the corporation would cease to broadcast beauty pageants the next January, after it had shown Miss Great Britain, saying, "I believe these contests no longer merit national air time."

[23][24] During the early 1990s, mainstream television broadcasts of the event declined in popularity after it became "increasingly unfashionable" in the late 1980s.

[20][27] Eric Morley died in 2000, and his wife, Julia, succeeded him as chair of the Miss World organisation.

This choice was controversial, as a northern Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, was awaiting death by stoning for adultery under Sharia law there, but Miss World used the publicity surrounding its presence to bring greater global awareness and action to Lawal's plight.

In the year leading up the finals in Nigeria, several European title holders lobbied their governments and the EU parliament to support Amina Lawal's cause.

[50] Despite the increasing international profile the boycott was garnering in the world press, the contest proceeded in Nigeria after being rescheduled to avoid taking place during Ramadan, with many prominent nations sending delegates.

A ThisDay (Lagos, Nigeria) newspaper editorial suggesting that Muhammad would probably have chosen one of his wives from among the contestants had he been alive to see it resulted in inter-religious riots that started on 22 November in which over 200 people were killed in the city of Kaduna and many houses of worship were burned by religious zealots.

[51] Because of these riots, the 2002 pageant was moved to London, following widely circulated reports that Canada's and Korea's representatives had withdrawn from the contest and returned to their respective countries out of safety concerns.

A fatwa urging the beheading of the woman who wrote the offending words, Isioma Daniel, was issued in Nigeria, but was declared null and void by the relevant Saudi Arabian authorities.

[56][57][58][59][60] The eventual winner of the pageant was Azra Akın of Turkey, the first predominantly Muslim country to hold the title since Egypt in 1954.

[62] Anastasia Lin, Miss World Canada, was not given a visa to travel in China and hence missed the official deadline of 20 November 2015 for entry to the 2015 pageant, and was declared persona non grata by the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa for openly criticizing China's human rights violations.

[66] The threat of the Omicron variant had already been detected in some parts of the world during the pre-pageant activities, as the disease started swept across the island.

Miss World Organization chair Julia Morley confirmed that the delegates were isolated and quarantined and would not be onstage for the final show if they did not produce a negative PCR test.

[67][68][69][70] On 15 December, the Puerto Rico Department of Health confirmed 17 positive cases for COVID-19 related to the Miss World pageant activities, including contestants and technical personnel.

[74] During a 16 December Puerto Rico Department of Health press conference, epidemiologist Melissa Marzán confirmed 15 staff and 23 contestant positive cases associated with Miss World.

[75] The rescheduled 70th Miss World pageant took place on 16 March 2022, at Puerto Rico's Coca-Cola Music Hall.

Fast-track events was one of deciding factor to choose semifinalist beside Preliminary Interview by combining those rounds with using points system table.

The Beach Beauty event showcased different swimsuits designed by Miss World 1975, Wilnelia Merced.