The 56th Miss World pageant took place in Warsaw, Poland on Saturday, September 30th at Sala Kongresowa, the main 2,897-seat auditorium at the Palace of Culture and Science. It was the first time ever that the pageant was held in a European city other than London, United Kingdom, having previously been held there in 2002 after the Nigeria Controversy. The pageant officially concluded after Taťána Kuchařová from Czech Republic was crowned as the 56th Miss World.

A total of 104 countries antended the pageant where Iceland's Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Miss World 2005, crowned her successor. The 2006 edition was the third largest in terms of participating countries, it is next to the 2003 and 2004 editions that featured 106 and 107 delegates respectively. All contestants were divided in six regional groups: Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Caribbean, Northern Europe and Southern Europe. A group of semifinalists was be selected out of each group where Tanzania's Nancy Sumari (Miss World Africa), Mexico's Karla Jimenez (Miss World Americas), Korea's Eun Young Oh (Miss World Asia Pacific), Puerto Rico's Ingrid Rivera (Miss World Caribbean), Iceland's Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir (Miss World Northern Europe) and Italy's Sofia Bruscoli (Miss World Southern Europe) were succeeded by the new six regional Miss World.

Gdynia was the host of the Miss Beach Beauty contest, Gizycko hosted the Miss Sport contest and Wrocław hosted the Miss Talent competition. The fourth event was Beauty With a Purpose.