Global dividends reached a record high of $1.75 trillion (£1.38 trillion) in 2024, despite a slight fall in UK payouts.
Dividends rose 6.6 per cent on an underlying basis last year, according to the latest Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index.
Underlying payouts in the UK fell slightly (-0.6 per cent), although this masked some growth in the wider market as mining stocks cut dividends by £4.5bn throughout the year.
Indeed, 85 per cent of UK companies actually increased payouts or held them steady, and there were strong contributions from a range of sectors including banks, oil producers, and healthcare.
Previous research from Computershare revealed that when excluding miner payouts, UK dividends experienced underlying growth of four per cent throughout the year.
Globally, 88 per cent of companies raised dividends or held them steady, and 17 of the 49 countries monitored by Janus Henderson reached record highs, including the US, Japan and China.
Growth came disproportionately from large companies, like Meta and Alphabet in the US, and Alibaba in China, which together accounted for a fifth of all global dividend growth, distributing $15.1bn (£11.9bn).
“Dividend growth was stronger last year than we expected, driven in part by the initiation of dividends from some of the Magnificent Seven stocks in the US,” said Jane Shoemake, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson.
“They are proving that they are just like successful companies before them: as they start to mature, they begin to generate surplus cash, which they can hand back to their investors, giving global dividend growth a significant boost.”
Banks were another strong factor for the global growth, with payouts rising 12.5 per cent on an underlying basis throughout the year.
Looking ahead to 2025, Janus Henderson forecast global payouts will keep on growing, increasing five per cent to bring total payouts to $1.83 trillion (£1.44 trillion).