Location and date It was the first time in
Southeast Asia and it also was the first time in the pageant's history that the event was held in a
Muslim majority country. After protests from hard-line
Islamic extremism groups threatened to force the pageant out of Indonesia, the national government announced that the finals would be moved from a venue near the
capital city, to a venue on the predominantly
Hindu island of
Bali. Furthermore, Miss World Organization Chairperson
Julia Morley replaced the "Beach Fashion"
bikini swimsuit event, with a "Balinese Beach Fabric"
sarong cloth event.
Selection of participants Contestants from 127 countries and territories competed in this year's
Miss World pageant.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals This edition saw the debut of Cameroon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kosovo and Uzbekistan, and the return of The British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Ghana, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Moldova, Namibia, Romania, Samoa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia and Zambia; Haiti, which last competed in
1975, Dominica and Tunisia in
1978, Samoa (as Western Samoa) in
1988, The British Virgin Islands in
2001, Switzerland in
2005, Taiwan (as Chinese Taipei) in
2008, Lesotho and Zambia in
2010, and Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Namibia and Romania in
2011. Bonaire, Macau, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Uruguay and Zimbabwe, withdrew from the competition.
Yityish Titi Aynaw of Israel, withdrew due to political reason regarding to Indonesia being an
Islamic country. Later competed at
Miss Universe 2013 in
Moscow. == Results ==