Miss World 2008

Miss World 2008, the 58th Miss World pageant was held at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South African December 13, 2008. Originally, the pageant was going to take place in Kiev, Ukraine, but because of the ongoingcrisis between Georgia and Russia in neighboring South Ossetia, the Miss World Organization decided to move the pageant away from Eastern Europe. 109 contestants from all over the world compete for the crown, the second highest turnout in the 59 years of the pageant. Miss World 2007, Zhang Zilin of the People's Republic of China crowned Ksenia Sukhinova of Russia as the brand new Miss World.

10 out of 15 countries which made it into the semifinals, were not in the semifinals last year: Barbados (1974),Croatia (1999), Kazakhstan (2000), Ukraine (2001), Iceland, Russia, South Africa and Spain (2005), and Braziland India (2006). Mexico placed in the finals for the fifth consecutive year. Puerto Rico placed for the fourth consecutive year. Angola and Venezuela reached the finals for the third consecutive year.