Selection of participants Contestants from sixty-eight countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Two candidates were appointed to their position to replace the original dethroned winner.
Replacements Silvana Suárez, the first runner-up of Miss Argentina 1978, was appointed to represent her country at Miss World after the original winner, Margarita Susana Heindrycks, was disqualified for being underage.''' Due to personal reasons, Konjovic was dethroned as Miss France, and the title of Miss France 1978 was given to the second runner-up Kelly Hoarau. Malek Nemlaghi of Tunisia was initially disqualified after refusing to remove her
yashmak and wear boxer shorts for the official photo-call. However, she was reinstated back into the competition after she agreed to remove her yashmak at the dress rehearsal.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals The 1978 edition saw the debuts of Dominica and Saint Vincent and the return of India, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Philippines, Singapore, Swaziland, Tunisia, and the Virgin Islands. Nigeria , which last competed in
1970, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Philippines, Swaziland, and Tunisia last competed in
1975, While, Italy, Jamaica, Singapore and the United States Virgin Islands last competed in
1976. Bolivia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, and South Africa withdrew in this edition. Angelyn Tukana of Papua New Guinea withdrew due to lack of funding. Yolanda Kloppers of South Africa did not compete after the Miss World Organization decided to ban the country from competing due to its
apartheid policy. == Results ==