Miss Universe 2008, Dayana Mendoza from Venezuela, will crown her successor at the end of this event. 85 countries and territories will compete for the title and the pageant will broadcast live in more than 60 countries around the world.

This year’s coronation night will be hosted by Billy Bush and Claudia Jordan.

ALBANIA – Hasna Xhukuci
ANGOLA – Nelsa Alves
ARGENTINA – Johanna Lasic
ARUBA – Dianne Croes
AUSTRALIA – Rachael Finch
BAHAMAS – Kiara Sherman
BELGIUM – Zeynep Sever
BOLIVIA – Dominique Peltier
BRAZIL – Larissa Costa
BULGARIA – Elitsa Lubenova
CANADA – Mariana Valente
CAYMAN ISLANDS – Nicosia Lawson
CHINA – Jing Yao Wang
COLOMBIA – Michelle Rouillard
COSTA RICA – Jessica Umaña
CROATIA – Sarah Cosic
CURACAO – Angie Simon
CYPRUS – Klelia Yiasemidou
CZECH REPUBLIC – Iveta Lutovska
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Ada de la Cruz
ECUADOR – Sandra Vinces
EGYPT – Elham Wagdi
EL SALVADOR – Mayella Mena
ESTONIA – Diana Arno
ETHIOPIA – Melat Yante
FINLAND – Essi Poysti
FRANCE – Chloe Mortaud
GEORGIA – Lika Orzhonikidze
GERMANY – Martina Lee
GHANA – Jennifer Koranteng
GREAT BRITAIN – Clair Cooper
GREECE – Viviana Kampanile
GUAM – Racine Manley
GUATEMALA – Lourdes Figueroa
GUYANA – Jenel Cox
HUNGARY – Zsuzsa Budai
ICELAND – Ingibjörg Egilsdóttir
INDIA – Ekta Chowdhry
INDONESIA – Zivanna Siregar
IRELAND – Diana Donnelly
ISRAEL – Yulia Liubianitzki
ITALY – Laura Valenti
JAPAN – Emiri Miyasaka
KAZAKHSTAN – Olga Nikitina
KOREA – Seon Na Ri
KOSOVO – Marigona Dragusha
LEBANON – Martine Andraos
MALAYSIA – Joanne Belle Ng Li Vun
MAURITIUS – Anais Veerapatren
MEXICO – Karla Carrillo
MONTENEGRO – Anja Jovanovic
NAMIBIA – Happie Ntalamo
NETHERLANDS – Avalon Chanel Weyzig
NEW ZEALAND – Katie Taylor
NICARAGUA – Indiana Sanchez
NIGERIA – Sandra Otohwo
NORWAY – Eli Landa
PANAMA – Diana Broce
PARAGUAY – Mareike Baumgarten
PERU – Karen Schwarz
PHILIPPINES – Pamela Bianca Manalo
POLAND – Angelika Jakubowska
PUERTO RICO – Mayra Matos
ROMANIA – Bianca Constantin
RUSSIA – Sofia Rudieva
SERBIA – Dragana Atlija
SINGAPORE – Rachel Kum
SLOVAK REPUBLIC – Denisa Mendrejova
SLOVENIA – Mirela Korac
SOUTH AFRICA – Tatum Keshwar
SWEDEN – Renate Cerljen
SWITZERLAND – Whitney Toyloy
TANZANIA – Illuminata James
THAILAND – Chutima Durongdej
TURKEY – Senem Kuyucuoglu
TURKS & CAICOS – Jewel Selver
UKRAINE – Kristina Kotz-Gotlib
URUGUAY – Cinthia D’Ottone
USA – Kristen Dalton
VENEZUELA – Stefania Fernandez
VIETNAM – Vo Hoang Yen
ZAMBIA – Andella Chileshe

NOTE: Spain and Honduras are yet to elect their representative. Sri Lanka and Trinidad & Tobago withdrew from this year’s pageant.

INTERESTING NOTES:

* Sorene Maratita, Miss Marianas Universe 2009, will not compete in Miss Universe 2009 due to lack of sponsorship and funding. She will only compete in Miss International 2009.

* Rosarita Tawil, the original representative from Lebanon, got replaced by Martine Andraos to compete in Miss Universe 2009.

* For the first time, the Bahamas will host the Miss Universe pageant. The hosting nation has never had a semifinalist.

* Nicosia Lawson (Cayman Islands), and Mariana Mihajlović (Montenegro) competed in Miss World 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 13, 2008. They were all unplaced.

* Zeynep Sever (Belgium), Chloé Mortaud (France), Olga Nikitina (Kazakhstan), Martine Andraos (Lebanon), Anaïs Veerapatren (Mauritius), Happie Ntelamo (Namibia), and Tatum Keshwar (South Africa) will compete in Miss World 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 12, 2009.

* Croatia was interested in hosting Miss Universe 2009 but they backed out of the project due to economic problem.

* Kiara Sherman (Bahamas) was Miss Teen Bahamas 2000-2001 and is an indie musical artist in her country.

* Melat Yante (Ethiopia) is the current Ethiopia’s Next Top Model.

* Mariana Valente (Canada) was born in Brazil and moved to Canada at the age of 12.

* Elham Wagdi (Egypt) has competed in Miss Earth 2005, Miss International 2006, and Miss Intercontinental 2007 (where she was a semi-finalist). She was the 1st Runner-up in the Miss Egypt 2005 pageant.

* Ada de la Cruz (Dominican Republic) competed in Miss World 2007 and won the Beach Beauty Award, which gave her an automatic semi-finalist spot that year. She is also the second woman of black African heritage to win the national crown.

* Andella Chileshe Matthews (Zambia) was Miss Zambia UK in 2008. Andella is also the first Miss Zambia, of mixed black/white heritage, to win the Miss Universe Zambia title.

* Iveta Lutovská (Czech Republic) previously held the title of Miss Model of the World 2007.

* Mayra Matos (Puerto Rico) previously held the title of Miss Teen International 2006.

* Zeynep Sever (Belgium) was born in Turkey.

* Stefanía Fernández (Venezuela) is of Ukrainian, Galician and Polish origin.

* Chloé Mortaud (France), is half African American and half French. Chloé is the first Miss France of dual nationality (American and French).

* Carolyn Yapp (Jamaica) was first runner up in Miss Jamaica World and second runner up in Miss Jamaica Universe a few years ago. Carolyn is also of mixed Black and Chinese parentage.

* Zsuzsa Budai (Hungary), is half Jamaican.

* Avalon-Chanel Weyzig (Netherlands), is half Indonesian.

* Martina Lee (Germany) of Korean and German descents.

* Whitney Toyloy (Switzerland), has an African American father, a paternal great grandfather who was Chinese, a Swiss mother and family in Panama.

* Rachel Kum (Singapore) was a finalist in the Newpaper Newface 2007 Competition. She’s also the winner for the Newman Magazine Model Search in 2007. In 2008, she was also chosen as the La Formula Una Girl.

* Clair Cooper (United Kingdom) represented England at Miss Earth 2007.

* Tatum Keshwar (South Africa) is of Black African, Indian, and White descent.

* Sandra Vinces (Ecuador) placed Top 10 at Miss Top Model of the World 2008.

* Emiri Miyasaka (Japan) placed 2nd runner-up at Miss International Japan 2008.

* Võ Hoàng Yến (Vietnam) was the winner of Vietnam Supermodel 2008.

* Zivanna Letisha Siregar (Indonesia) won Elite Model Look Indonesia, then she competed in Elite Model Look Asia Pacific 2006.

* Last July, investor Jonathan Westbrook tried to get Australia to host Miss Universe 2009 but his efforts were in vain as the possible venues were not interested.

* Donald Trump had intentions on holding the 2009 pageant in Dubai, but backed out due to the political instability regarding relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

Source: Wikipedia

The Philippine delegate this year is the 22-year-old PAL Flight attendant Pamela Bianca Manalo:

Pamela is the sister of Katherine Ann Manalo, one of the Top 10 finalists in Miss World 2002.

Miss Universe 2009 originally appeared on Starmometer on July 18, 2009.