Our Dividend Watch analyses global equity trends by tracking the world’s largest 1,600 companies, focusing on dividend growth and dividend yield across regions and sectors.
The report looks beyond short-term market fluctuations to offer a 15-year perspective on dividend investing, focusing on the fundamentals of where companies are generating capital and how they are returning it to shareholders.
Global dividends rose strongly in Q3 2025: The topline figure was up 6.2% to $518.7 billion, a record for the third quarter
Core dividend growth: 6.1%
Dividend stability: 88% of companies increased or held payouts steady; median growth was 5.7%
Financials led: Financials accounted for nearly half the Q3 dividend growth, with payouts up 11.0% on a core basis, almost twice as fast as the all-sector average
Strongest contribution to growth: Banks, insurers and general financials
Strong sectors: Transport, Software & IT Services
Weak spot: Mining & Chemicals
US record: $179.3 billion in payouts; tech and financials strong
Europe ex-UK: +10.2% core growth; led by Poland, Spain, Italy; France, and Netherlands lagged
Japan growth: +13.0% (core), despite the third quarter being seasonally quiet for Japanese dividends
Asia mixed: Hong Kong +15.4% (core); Taiwan +25% (core); Korea strong; China flat
Weak spots: Australia fell 7.4% (core), positioning the country at the bottom of the global rankings of major markets year-to-date; UK down 0.9% (core), extending a long period in the global slow lane
Emerging markets: +11.2% (core), led by India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico
All information as at 30 September 2025 and attributed to Capital Group, unless otherwise stated. Data supplied by Exchange Data International, supplemented by insight from company sources such as annual reports and results announcements and FactSet. FX data is also sourced from FactSet.
Dividend growth has been calculated in US dollars and is illustrated using indexed charts rebased to 100 in Q4 2010. All growth rates quoted in the text are year-on-year unless otherwise stated.
