Local organizations that wish to select the Miss Universe contestant for their countries must submit bids to the Miss Universe Organization for that right. Occasionally, the traditional license holder for a particular country may lose its bid, as has happened in Italy, Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Thailand, and more.
Usually a country's candidate selection involves pageants in major cities, whose winners compete in a national pageant, but there are exceptions. For example, from 2000 to 2004, Australian delegates were chosen by a modeling agency. Although such "castings" are generally discouraged by the Miss Universe Organization, Miss Australia Jennifer Hawkins was chosen to represent in Miss Universe in 2004 (where she would eventually win the crown). When Australia resumed its national pageant, Michelle Guy became Miss Universe Australia 2005.
Recent arrivals in the pageant include Slovenia (2001), China and Albania (2002), Vietnam, Georgia and Ethiopia (2004), Latvia (2005), Kazakhstan (2006), Tanzania (2007), Kosovo (2008), Gabon and Lithuania (2012), Azerbaijan (2013), Sierra Leone (2016), and Cambodia (2017); there have also been efforts to revive strong national pageants in, South Africa, Canada, Spain, Japan, Southeast Asia and Latin America. The organization makes continual efforts to expand the pageant, but the participation of some countries such as Algeria has proven difficult due to cultural barriers to the swimsuit competition, while others such as Armenia, Mozambique, and Nepal have balked at sending representatives due to the cost.
As of 2016, only three countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada, France and Germany (actually West Germany until 1990, when East and West reunified). Many European countries allow 17-year-old contestants to compete in their pageants, while Miss Universe's minimum age is 18, so national titleholders often have to be replaced by their runners-up. Beginning in 2012, transgender women were allowed to compete, as long as they win their national pageants. Since its inception, Miss Universe strictly prohibits age fabrication.
Some of the most successful national pageants in the last decade have been Venezuela, U.S.A., France, Philippines, and Colombia which command consistently high interest and television ratings in their respective countries. The live broadcasts of the Miss Universe pageant (regardless of the hosting nation) proved highly popular particularly in the Americas and Asia in the recent years.