Miss World Past Winners and Some Interesting Facts

15 Dec 2019 | Aakanksha Chugh

Miss World Miss World 2019 Miss World 2018 Miss World 2017 Megan Young Rolene Strauss Stephanie Del Valle Díaz Philippines Puerto Rico South Africa Africa Asia North America

Miss World commenced in the year 1951, and the first crowned winner of the pageant was Kiki Håkansson from Sweden. Not only that, Sweden also won the second Miss World title with May-Louise Flodin in 1952.

Let's see some interesting facts about Miss World pageant and its winners -

a) First time winners from each continent are - Kiki Håkansson (Sweden, Europe) Miss World 1951, Antigone Costanda (Egypt, Africa) Miss World 1954, Susana Duijm (Venezuela, South America) Miss World 1955, Carole Joan Crawford (Jamaica, North America) Miss World 1963, Reita Faria (India, Asia) Miss World 1966 and Penelope Plummer (Australia, Oceania) Miss World 1968.

b) Venezuela and India have so far won maximum number of Miss World titles (6 each), followed by United Kingdom (4) and Jamaica (4).

c)·Helen Morgan (UK), Miss World 1974 was the first winner to resign, and Anneline Kriel (South Africa) assumed the responsibilities as new Miss World 1974. Similarly, in 1980 Kimberley Santos assumed the responsibilities of Miss World 1980 after the resignation of Gabriella Brum (Germany).

d) No Miss World Winner has been dethroned till date.

e)·The longest reign by a winner in Miss World history was that of Sweden’s Kicki Håkansson (Miss World 1951) for 474 days, followed by the second longest reign of Megan Young (Miss World 2013) of Philippines as Miss World 2013 for 442 days!

f) The shortest reign by a winner in Miss World history was that of Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela (Miss World 2011) for 286 days, followed by the secons shortest reign of Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir of Iceland (Miss World 2005) for 294 days.

g) The 'oldest' winner to be crowned Miss World was Vanessa Ponce of Mexico, who was crowned Miss World 2018, when she was 26 years 274 days old on the day of her crowning. Next is Aneta Kreglicka of Poland who was crowned Miss World 1989 when she was 24 years 244 days old at the time of her win.

h) The youngest Miss World winner is Wilnelia Merced of Puerto Rico, who won the title in the year 1975 when she was 18 years 39 days when crowned.

i) Megan Young of the Philippines defeated maximum number of candidates in 2013 to win the title. In 2013, 127 candidates competed for the Miss World 2013 crown, which was the maximum number of candidates that ever competed in any of the editions of the pageant.

j) More than 100 countries have been sending there representatives to compete in Miss World since 2003 making Miss World as the biggest international pageant given its reach.

k) Miss World pageant has seen three back-to-back wins, that is win by the same country in consecutive years. Kiki Håkansson & May-Louise Flodin of Sweden won the Miss World title in 1951 & 1952 respectively, Ann Sidney & Lesley Langley of United Kingdom won the Miss World title in 1964 & 1965 respectively, and finally Yukta Mookhey and Priyanka Chopra won the title in consecutrive years (1999 & 2000) for India.

l) All the Miss World winners from United Kingdom won the title when the event also was held in United Kingdom. Only other country to win the Miss World title at home is China, as both Miss World winners from China (Zhang Zilin, Miss World 2007 and Yu Wenxia, Miss World 2012) also won the title when the pageant was held in China.

m) Miss World has been held most of the times in United Kingdom (45 times), followed by China (9 times) and South Africa (7 times)

Now, let's look at the past winners/ titleholders of Miss World till date. Note that in case a Miss World titleholder resigned before the completion of her reign and her responsibilities were assumed by one of the runner-ups, the assumed winner is considered as the titlehodler in the below list.

Miss World Winners from 1951-1960

Kiki Håkansson Miss World 1951 from Sweden

May Louise-Flodin Miss World 1952 from Sweden

Denise Perrier Miss World 1953 from France

Antigone Costanda Miss World 1954 from Egypt

Susana Duijm Miss World 1955 from Venezuela

Petra Schürmann Miss World 1956 from Germany

Marita Lindahl Miss World 1957 from Finland

Penelope Anne Coelen Miss World 1958 from South Africa

Corine Rottschäfer Miss World 1959 from Netherlands

Norma Cappagli Miss World 1960 from Argentina

Miss World Winners from 1961-1970

Rosemarie Frankland Miss World 1961 from United Kingdom

Catharina Lodders Miss World 1962 from Netherlands

Carole Joan Crawford Miss World 1963 from Jamaica

Ann Sidney Miss World 1964 from United Kingdom

Lesley Langley Miss World 1965 from United Kingdom

Reita Faria Miss World 1966 from India

Madeline Hartog-Bel Miss World 1967 from Peru

Penelope Plummer Miss World 1968 from Australia

Eva Rueber-Staier Miss World 1969 from Austria

Jennifer Hosten Miss World 1970 from Grenada

Miss World Winners from 1971-1980

Lúcia Petterle Miss World 1971 from Brazil

Belinda Green Miss World 1972 from Australia

Marjorie Wallace Miss World 1973 from USA*

Anneline Kriel Miss World 1974 from South Africa

Wilnelia Merced Miss World 1975 from Puerto Rico

Cindy Breakspeare Miss World 1976 from Jamaica

Mary Stavin Miss World 1977 from Sweden

Silvana Suarez Miss World 1978 from Argentina

Gina Swainson Miss World 1979 from Bermuda

Kimberley Santos Miss World 1980 from Guam

*After 104 days of her crowning, the title was taken away from Marjorie Wallace due to controversial reasons. The first runner-up, Evangeline Pascual of the Philippines, was offered to fulfill the duties left by the winner (without the title and the crown) but she refused. The second runner-up, Patsy Yuen of Jamaica, accepted the offer to complete the Miss World duties without being officially crowned as Miss World.

Miss World Winners from 1981-1990

Pilín León Miss World 1981 from Venezuela

Mariasela Álvarez Miss World 1982 from Dominican Republic

Sarah-Jane Hutt Miss World 1983 from United Kingdom

Astrid Carolina Herrera Miss World 1984 from Venezuela

Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir Miss World 1985 from Iceland

Giselle Laronde Miss World 1986 from Trinidad & Tobago

Ulla Weigerstorfer Miss World 1987 from Austria

Linda Pétursdóttir Miss World 1988 from Iceland

Aneta Kreglicka Miss World 1989 from Poland

Gina Tolleson Miss World 1990 from USA

Miss World Winners from 1991-2000