These 3 International Dividend ETFs Pay Up to Three Times SCHD and Are Beating the S&P 500 This Year

DVYA and IDOG are beating the S&P 500 in 2026, with gains of 21% and 20% respectively, while paying yields of 6% and 8%.

SCHD is actually outrunning all three international funds on price return in 2026, up 30%, but it pays only a 3% yield while they offer between 6% and 9%.

IDOG's sector-capped Dogs of the Dow strategy has produced a 188% ten-year return, which is the strongest long-term track record of the three funds.

Investors chasing higher payouts than what typical U.S. blue chips deliver keep landing on the same benchmark: the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF ( NYSEARCA:SCHD ). It is a fine core holding, but its trailing distribution of $1.048 per share against a price near $35 puts the yield around 3%. Three international dividend funds pay meaningfully more, and two of them are running well ahead of the S&P 500 in 2026.

The trio includes the Global X SuperDividend ETF ( NYSEARCA:SDIV ), the iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend ETF ( NYSEARCA:DVYA ), and the ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF ( NYSEARCA:IDOG ). Each answers a different question about how to source income overseas, and each carries a currency and distribution profile different than that of SCHD.

SDIV owns roughly 100 of the highest-yielding stocks in the world, is equal-weighted, and pays every month. Recent distributions have run between $0.18 and $0.20 per share, with an annualized forward payout of $2.16 against a share price of $25. That works out to a yield in the high single digits, comfortably three times what SCHD pays, and it is why the fund appears on almost every "highest-yield ETF" screen (if a single fund feels too concentrated, we rounded up seven monthly payers with different risk profiles in a free guide here: 7 Monthly Dividend Stocks That Pay You Every 30 Days).

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The mechanism is aggressive yield harvesting. The portfolio leans on U.S. mortgage REITs like AGNC Investment, Blackstone Mortgage Trust, and Chimera, alongside international oil and shipping names such as Var Energi, Aker BP, Ithaca Energy, and ZIM Integrated Shipping, plus Brazilian, Indonesian, and South African resource companies. It is a global collection of high-payout businesses rather than a quality screen.