Miss Universe Winners: Which Country Has Won The Most Titles?

Miss France Iris Mittenaere became the new Miss Universe 2016 although the pageant took place in 2017. The 24-year-old beauty took over the title from Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach who reigned with integrity and dignity. Mittenaere was a clear favorite from the very start and beat out Andrea Tovar from Colombia who placed third place and Raquel Pelissier from Haiti who ended up in second place.

Mittenaere becomes the second woman ever to bring the crown to France. Now France has joined countries like Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Australia, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden and Finland, all of which have won Miss Universe twice. But which country has the most Miss Universe titles?

You might think of Venezuela, a country famously known for its Misses. Gorgeous women with perfect measurements, luscious hair, flawless tans and striking features, who walk in a room and make all heads turn. A ray of sunshine within all the political and economic turmoil overshadowing a country that once used to prosper. As it turns out, in Venezuela, “beauty queens rank alongside baseball players and oil as the country’s biggest exports,” according to Fox News.

While Gabriela Isler brought home an impressive seventh crown to Venezuela back in 2013 when she won Miss Universe, United States is the country with the most crowns with eight. The US won its first crown back in 1954 thanks to Miriam Stevenson, who became Miss USA hailing from South Carolina. Two years later, in 1956, Carol Morris from Iowa won the pageant, giving the US its second title.

Linda Bement earned the United States another crown in 1960, followed by Sylvia Hitchcock in 1967. It was 1980 when America saw another Miss Universe crown thanks to Shawn Weatherly and then in 1995 with Chelsi Smith. Brook Lee won the title in 1997, and Olivia Culpo in 2012.

Although the United States does have more Miss Universe crowns, Venezuela has more beauty pageant titles with 22, combining Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth, considered the most important pageants in the world. Besides winning Miss Universe seven times, Venezuela has won Miss World six times, Miss International seven times and Miss Earth twice; whereas the United States has won Miss Universe eight times, Miss World three times, Miss International three times and although it’s placed 10 times on Miss Earth, the US has yet to win that particular crown.

Venezuela also holds another record. In 2009, it became the first country to achieve consecutive wins at the Miss Universe pageant, when 2008 winner Dayana Mendoza crowned her successor Stefania Fernandez. After the US and Venezuela, the country with the most Miss Universe wins is Philippines, with three.