British Virgin Islands, and Sierra Leone last competed in 1986.
Withdrawals and Nations not competing
Brazil lost its Miss World franchise.
Panama lost its national pageant franchise to send delegates to Miss World and to Miss Universe.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines failed to send delegates in Miss World.
Other Notes
This is the first time that there were only 10 semi-finalists and five out of the Top 10 would make it into the finals.
Preliminary swimsuits in Miss World 1988 was held in Hotel Torrequebrada, Benalmádena and Puerto Banús, Málaga, Spain
Dominican Republic, Finland, Guatemala, Holland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, and Trinidad & Tobago missed their spots into the semi-finals after receiving high preliminary scores; therefore they were among the Top 20 contestants. Guatemala won the Miss Photogenic award in Miss World 1988.
Holland, who failed to make it to the semi-finals, was crowned Miss Universe 1989 in Cancún, Mexico.
Hong Kong, who failed to make it to the semi-finals, was crowned Miss Chinese International 1988 in Hong Kong. While on the other hand, Macau, who failed to make it to the semi-finals also, didn't make it to the semi-finals in Miss Chinese International 1988.
Poland, who failed to make it to semi-finals, competed Miss Universe 1989 and finished as the third runner-up.
Spain (Susana de la Llave Varon) was the 1st runner-up in Miss Spain 1987, as pageant organizers rescheduled Miss Spain 1988 to December.
Korea was placed as 1st runner-up for the first time in Miss World 1988. In fact, a Korean representative also placed 1st runner-up at the 1988 Miss Universe pageant and the country hosted the Olympic Games in Seoul that same year.
4 out of 84 contestants (Belgium, British Virgin Islands, France and Nigeria) competed in Miss Universe 1988 six months before.
Iceland won the Miss World title for the second time in 3 years.
Half the number of countries which made it into the semifinals, were not in the semifinals last year: Korea (1965), Norway (1974), Spain (1979), Australia (1984), and Sweden (1985).
Iceland
