Miss Malaysia, Josephine Lena Wong, had previously won the Expo Queen 1970 pageant at the Expo '70 World's Fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, during the pageant week of Miss Universe.
Warunee Sangsirinavin, the winner of Miss Thailand 1969 was underage before February 1st and withdrew from the competition. But she participated in the 1971 pageant instead.
This was the first time that Czechoslovakia sent a delegate to the competition. It was also the third country from the Eastern Bloc to compete in the pageant's 18-year history. Earlier, only Yugoslavia and Poland had participated. Czechoslovakia would not compete again until 1990.