* Global dividends up 43 pct since 2009 - Henderson GI
* $1 in every $7 coming from emerging markets
* Japan, U.S. slow pace of growth in 2013
* Growth seen picking up pace again this year
By Joshua Franklin
LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Shareholders received more than$1 trillion in global dividends for the first time in 2013,buoyed by growth in payouts from emerging market firms, a studyshowed.
Dividend payments grew 43 percent since 2009, the researchby Henderson Global Investors found, hitting $1.03 trillion lastyear. One in every $7 came from EM firms, dividends from whichhave risen 107 percent over the past five years.
Companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China wereresponsible for much of that growth, which came despite aslowdown in many markets since May after the U.S. FederalReserve flagged plans to wind down its monetary stimulusprogramme.
"The trillion dollar dividend is a huge milestone for equityinvestors and illustrates that dividends are now a vitalcomponent of investors' returns," Henderson Chief ExecutiveAndrew Formica said.
The study analysed dividends from the 1,200 largestcompanies by market capitalisation around the world from 2009and used averages to estimate payments for other listedcompanies.
The emerging market growth helped pick up the slack fromcontinental Europe, which posted growth of just 7.8 percent overthe same period, though it was still the second largest regionfor dividends in 2013 behind the United States.
Dividends from technology companies have grown the most overthe past five years, more than doubling since 2009, the studyfound, but financial firms accounted for by far the largestshare of dividends in 2013, providing almost a quarter.
Royal Dutch Shell was the top dividend payer lastyear, followed by Exxon Mobil with Apple rounding out the top three.
Despite passing the $1 trillion milestone, global dividendgrowth still slowed from the year before, to 2.8 percent from7.7 percent, weighed down by slowdowns in Japan and the UnitedStates, where a spate of special dividends were not repeated.
Henderson forecast dividend growth to rebound in 2014,however, with improved strength in developed markets and apositive outlook for corporate earnings driving growth asinvestors hunt for higher returns.
"Ageing populations must increasingly rely less on statepensions and more on their own savings to provide forretirement," Formica said. "Not only that, but they will need tostay invested in equities much longer than in the past too. Thisdemand for equity income is a trend we see continuing through2014 and beyond."
