Comparison of Dividend Yields Across 20 Country Indices

The chart below shows the dividend yield across twenty country indices.These countries represent the largest countries based on market capitalization as of 12/31/2009:

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Source: Skloff Financial Group

The dividend yield of U.S. stocks remained less than a paltry 2% since 2003. For the years shown, Australian stocks have consistently paid dividends in excess of 3%. Among the BRIC countries, Brazilian stocks have the highest dividend yields. Overall U.S. stocks pay lower dividends than Australian and European stocks. This is one reason for U.S. investors to diversify their portfolio with foreign stocks.