| Winner: | Brook Lee |
| Represented: | United States |
| Date: | 16 May 1997 |
| Acts: | Enrique Iglesias |
| Entrants: | 74 |
| Placements: | 10 |
| Venue: | Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, United States |
| Broadcaster: | CBS (WFOR-TV) |
| Before: | 1996 |
| Next: | 1998 |
Miss Universe 1997 was the 46th Miss Universe pageant, held on 16 May 1997 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Brook Lee of the United States was crowned by Alicia Machado of Venezuela at the end of the event. Seventy-four delegates competed in this year.[1] This is the first Miss Universe edition to be produced by Donald Trump.[2]
The winner of Miss Universo Chile 1997, Hetu'u Rapu from Easter Island was replaced by her 1st runner-up, Claudia Delpín because Hetu'u did not meet the age requirement of eighteen to take part at Miss Universe 1997 by seventeen days.[3] [4] The winner of Miss Deutschland 1997, Nadine Schmidt elected not to participate at Miss Universe 1997, and she was replaced by her 3rd runner-up, Agathe Neunen because the other runners-up did not meet the age requirement of 18 to take part at Miss Universe. However, Schmidt later participated at Miss Baltic Sea 1997 and won the crown.
Miss Nicaragua 1996, Luz Maria Sanchez Herdocia did not participate because the television station that ran Miss Nicaragua (Canal 6) declared bankruptcy in April, and therefore they couldn't pay the entry fee.[5] Maryjane McKibben of Western Samoa dropped out of the pageant after two days.
| Placement | Contestant | |
|---|---|---|
| Miss Universe 1997 | ||
| 1st Runner-Up | ||
| 2nd Runner-Up |
| |
| Top 6 |
| |
| Top 10 |
|
Seventy-four contestants competed for the title.
| Country/Territory | Contestant | Age | Hometown | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nazarena Vanesa González | 22 | Buenos Aires | ||
| Karen-Ann Peterson | 20 | Piedra Plat | ||
| Laura Csortan | 20 | Brisbane | ||
| Nestaea Sealy[6] | 18 | Nassau | ||
| Laurence Borremans | 19 | Wavre | ||
| Sharon Dominguez | 22 | Orange Walk | ||
| Naomi Darrell | 20 | Warwick Parish | ||
| Helga Bauer[7] | 19 | Santa Cruz dela Sierra | ||
| Jhane-Louise Landwier | 18 | Kralendijk | ||
| Nayla Micherif | 21 | Ubá | ||
| Melinda Penn[8] | – | Tortola | ||
| Krassmira Todorova | – | Varna | ||
| Carmen Kempt | 18 | Red Deer | ||
| Claudia Delpín | 18 | Iquique | ||
| Claudia Elena Vásquez | 22 | Medellin | ||
| Gabriela Aguilar | 19 | Santa Ana | ||
| Kristina Cherina[9] | 18 | Split | ||
| Verna Vasquez | 23 | Willemstad | ||
| Korina Nikolaou | 18 | Larnaca | ||
| Petra Minářová | 19 | Prague | ||
| Cesarina Mejía | 20 | Azua | ||
| María José López | 19 | Quito | ||
| Eiman Abdallah Thakeb | – | Cairo | ||
| Carmen Carrillo | 19 | San Salvador | ||
| Kristiina Heinmets | 18 | Tallinn | ||
| Karita Tuomola | 20 | Kuopio | ||
| Patricia Spéhar | 21 | Paris | ||
| Agathe Neuner[10] | 22 | Munich | ||
| Elina Zisi | 21 | Athens | ||
| Carol Aquino | 19 | Chiquimula | ||
 Honduras | Joselina García | 18 | La Ceiba | |
| Lee San-san | 19 | Hong Kong | ||
| Ildikó Kecan | 19 | Debrecen | ||
| Solveig Lilja Guðmundsdóttir | 20 | Reykjavík | ||
| Nafisa Joseph † | 19 | Bangalore | ||
| Fiona Mullally | 24 | Limerick | ||
| Dikla Hamdy | – | Beersheba | ||
| Denny Méndez | 18 | Florence | ||
| Nadine Julian Thomas[11] | 21 | Saint Catherine Parish | ||
| Dalida Chammai | 23 | Beirut | ||
| Trincy Low | 21 | George Town | ||
| Claire Grech | 21 | San Ġwann | ||
| Cindy Cesar | 20 | Central de Flacq | ||
| Rebeca Tamez | 21 | Ciudad Victoria | ||
| Sheya Shipanga | 22 | Windhoek | ||
| Marina McCartney | 20 | Auckland | ||
| Melanie Sibetang | 20 | Saipan | ||
| Lía Borrero | 20 | Las Tablas | ||
| Rosanna Jiménez | – | Encarnación | ||
| Claudia Maria Dopf[12] | 20 | Lima | ||
| Abbygale Arenas | 22 | Angeles City | ||
| Agnieszka Zielińska | 21 | Poznań | ||
| Lara Antunes | 19 | Lisbon | ||
| Ana Rosa Brito | 26 | San Juan | ||
| Diana Maria Urdareanu | 20 | Timișoara | ||
| Anna Baitchik | 20 | Saint Petersburg | ||
| Tricia Tan | 24 | Singapore | ||
 Slovakia | Lucia Povrazníková | 18 | Banská Bystrica | |
| Mbali Gasa | 21 | Durban | ||
| Lee Eun-hee | 19 | Seoul | ||
| Inés Sáinz Esteban | 21 | Bilbao | ||
| Victoria Lagerström | 24 | Stockholm | ||
| Melanie Winiger | 18 | Locarno | ||
| Chio Hai Ta | 24 | Taichung | ||
| Suangsuda Lawanprasert | 19 | Bangkok | ||
| Margot Bourgeois | 24 | Arouca | ||
| Yeşim Çetin | 20 | Istanbul | ||
| Keisha Delancy | 23 | Grand Turk | ||
| Natalia Nadtochey | 21 | Kharkiv | ||
| Brook Lee | 26 | Pearl City | ||
| Vania Thomas | 27 | Charlotte Amalie | ||
| Adriana Cano | 20 | Montevideo | ||
| Marena Bencomo | 23 | Valencia | ||
| Lorraine Magwenzi | 22 | Harare |