Miss Universe Drops Age Limit... South Korea's '35-Year-Old Woman' to Compete

2024: Upper age limit of 28 abolished
Women aged 40 to 80 compete in pageants worldwide

A 35-year-old woman will represent South Korea at the Miss Universe pageant.

Kim Yurim, competing as South Korea's representative at the 75th Miss Universe. Miss Universe Korea.

According to Miss Universe Korea and other sources on October 7, 35-year-old Kim Yurim, born in 1991, will represent South Korea at the 75th Miss Universe pageant, which will be held in Puerto Rico this November.

For many years, Miss Universe limited contestants to those aged 18 to 28, meaning women could no longer compete once they turned 29. However, the pageant removed its upper age limit starting with the 2024 edition, allowing women in their 30s and even 40s to compete for the crown.

In 2023, the Miss Universe Organization announced it would abolish the age limit. Starting in 2024, any adult woman aged 18 or older could enter the pageant, regardless of age.

Age was not the only requirement to change. Miss Universe lowered the barriers to a beauty pageant that had effectively been limited to young, unmarried women, relaxing its eligibility rules to allow married or divorced women and women with children to compete.

As these barriers disappeared, contestants who had not been seen before began appearing in pageants around the world.

In Argentina, Alejandra Marisa Rodriguez, a lawyer and journalist, made headlines when she won Miss Buenos Aires at the age of 60. She later competed in Miss Argentina but did not qualify to represent the country. Contestants in that year's Miss Argentina pageant reportedly ranged in age from 18 to 73.

In Canada, 58-year-old Lorraine Peters also competed in Miss Universe Canada. Under the previous "under 29" rule, neither woman would have been eligible to compete.

In South Korea, model Choi Soon-hwa, who was 80 at the time, entered the national selection contest that same year. Although she was not chosen to represent South Korea, she received the "Best Dresser" award.

A record for the oldest contestant was also set at the international pageant. Beatrice Njoya, representing Malta in 2024, became the oldest contestant ever to compete in the Miss Universe pageant at the age of 40. A mother of three, Njoya became a prominent example of a contestant who took the international stage in the first year after the age limit was abolished.

From contestants in their 40s, 50s and 60s appearing in the first year after the age limit was abolished to women in their 80s entering national selection contests, the pageant's contestant profile has changed significantly over its more than 70-year history. Of the more than 120 contestants at the 2024 international pageant, at least 25 were reportedly older than the previous age limit of 28.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.