A Comparison Of Global Dividend Payouts

Many companies across the world have been increasing their dividend payouts to shareholders in the past few years. Global dividend payouts reached a record $1.04 Trillion in 2013, a growth of 43% from 2009 according to research by Henderson Global Investors. The following chart shows the global dividend payout by region: Source: Henderson Global Investors via Income Investor, March 2014, CityWire UK Some observations on the above chart: North American companies account for the largest share of global dividends due to the sheer size and scale of the market. If U.S. firms cut down the amount of their share buybacks and instead raise their dividends, then North America's share of global dividends would rise even higher.** While North American firms' dividend payouts in 2013 surpassed the payouts in 2009, European firms' payouts lagged. British companies accounted for 11% of global dividends with Vodafone (VOD),... Read more