Iceland one of top Miss World nations

Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir, Miss World 1985.

Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir, Miss World 1985. Photo: Kristján Ari Einarsson

The Miss Universe competition has featured prominently in world headlines over the past couple of days after the host of this year’s show announced the wrong winner on live television.

Iceland has never won the Miss Universe competition, but is one of the world’s top performers in the rival Miss World show, with three victories since the competition began in 1951.

This puts Iceland – with a population of 330,000 – in joint third place in the world.

Venezuela tops the table with six victories, with India and the United Kingdom in joint second place, with five victories each. In joint third place with Iceland are Jamaica, South Africa, Sweden and the United States.

Iceland’s three victories came 1985 (Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir), 1988 (Linda Pétursdóttir) and 2005 (Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir).

This year’s Icelandic competitor was Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir. The 2015 final took place on Saturday and was won by Miss Spain.

Linda Pétursdóttir, Miss World 1988.

Linda Pétursdóttir, Miss World 1988. Photo: Þorkell Þorkelsson

Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Miss World 2005.

Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Miss World 2005. Photo: Eggert Jóhannesson

Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir, Miss Iceland 2015.

Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir, Miss Iceland 2015. Photo: Eggert Jóhannesson

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