Miss World 1959

Thirty-seven contestants were selected to compete in the pageant. Three contestants were appointed to represent their countries after being a runner-up in their national pageants.

The first runner-up of Miss Maple Leaf 1959, Huguette Demers, was appointed to represent Canada after Miss Maple Leaf 1959, Irene Dobler relinquished her title in order to marry.^[1] Berit Grundvig, the first-runner of Miss Norway 1959, was appointed to represent her country after Miss Norway 1959, Jorunn Kristjansen, became the first runner-up of Miss Universe 1959.^[2] Miss Holland 1957, Corine Rottschäfer, was appointed to represent her country after Miss Holland 1959, Peggy Erwich, withdrew due to her modeling commitments.^[3][4][5]

This edition marked the debut of Argentina, Ghana, Gibraltar, Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Rhodesia and Nyasaland,^[a] South Korea,^[b] and Uruguay,^[6] and the return of Honduras, which last competed in 1955; and Austria, Finland, Iceland, and Luxembourg last competed in 1957.

Raymonde Valle of Morocco and Figen Özgür of Turkey withdrew for undisclosed reasons.^[7] Venezuela withdrew after its respective organization failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate. Habiba Bent Abdallah of Tunisia was supposed to compete, but withdrew from the competition due to financial constraints.

The number of placements in this edition has been increased to eleven from six in the previous edition. The eleven semi-finalists were selected through a preliminary competition held on the day of the final competition consisting of a swimsuit and evening gown competition. The eleven semi-finalists were then interviewed by Bob Russell and paraded before the judges, and five finalists were eventually selected to compete in the final interview.^[8]

• Claude Berr – Member of the Miss Europe committee
• Reg Cudlipp – British newspaper editor for News of the World
• Taina Elg – Finnish-American actress and dancer
• Jill Ireland – British actress
• Lady Lydford – British socialite
• Cynthia Oberholzer – South African model
• Oscar Santa María – Brazilian politician
• John Spencer-Churchill – 11th Duke of Marlborough^[10]
• Godfrey Winn – English journalist

Thirty-seven contestants competed for the title.^[11]

Country	Contestant	Age[c]	Hometown
Argentina	Amalia Yolanda Scuffi[12]	17	Mar de Plata
Austria	Helga Knofel	20	–
Belgium	Diane Hidalgo[13]	19	–
Brazil	Dione Brito Oliveira[14]	18	Caruaru
Canada	Huguette Demers[15]	21	Montreal
Denmark	Kirsten Olsen[2]	20	Frederiksberg
Finland	Margit Jaatinen[2]	19	–
France	Marie Hélène Trové[16]	19	–
Ghana	Star Nyaniba Annan	20	Accra
Gibraltar	Viola Howells[17]	23	Gibraltar
Greece	Yakiathi Karaviti	20	Athens
Hawaii	Margaret Moani Keala Brumaghim[18]	26	Honolulu
Holland	Corine Rottschäfer[19]	21	Amsterdam
Honduras	Rosemary Lefebre	–	Tegucigalpa
Hong Kong	Michelle Mok[20]	17	Hong Kong
Iceland	Sigurbjörg Sveinsdóttir[21]	18	Reykjavík
India	Fleur Ezekiel[22]	18	–
Ireland	Ann Fitzpatrick[23]	17	Dublin
Israel	Ziva Shomrat[24]	18	Haifa
Italy	Paola Falchi[25]	18	Latium
Jamaica	Sheila Chong[26]	24	Kingston
Japan	Chieko Ichinose[27]	18	Tokyo
Jordan	Ufemia Jabaji	17	Amman
Luxembourg	Josee Pundel	20	Luxembourg City
Norway	Berit Grundvig[2]	19	Oslo
Paraguay	Elvira dos Santos	18	Asunción
Peru	María Elena Rossel[28]	17	Piura
Portugal	Maria Teresa Motoa Cardoso	18	Lisbon
Puerto Rico	Lyllianna Díaz	19	San Juan
Rhodesia and Nyasaland	Vivien Lentin	17	Kitwe
South Africa	Moya Meaker	18	Pretoria
South Korea	Seo Jung-ae[29]	19	Busan
Sweden	Carola Håkonsson[2]	20	–
United Kingdom	Anne Thelwell[30]	22	Heswall
United States	Loretta Powell	24	Stratford
Uruguay	Yvonne Kelly	25	Montevideo
West Germany	Helga Meyer	23	Bielefeld