VYMI dividend: yield, schedule and calculator (2026)

VYMI at a glance

Dividend yield

3.7%

Paid last 12 months

$3.72 / share

Pays dividends

quarterly

Expense ratio

0.07%

Fund size

$21.7 billion

Average per year since 2016

+10.9%

Yield, expense ratio, fund size and total return from the TopDividendETFsPRO database, updated November 4, 2026. Per-share payments from StockAnalysis, through the September 2026 payment. Holdings as of September 30, 2026.

The Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF launched on February 25, 2016. Think of it as the overseas cousin of $VYM: same basic idea (own the higher-yielding half of the market, weighted by size), but with every company outside the U.S.

And here's the thing most U.S. dividend investors miss. Because foreign stocks trade at lower valuations and pay out more of their profits, $VYMI yields noticeably more than $VYM, and even more than $SCHD right now. So let's look at whether that extra income is worth it.

VYMI dividend schedule for 2026

$VYMI pays four times a year, on the same rhythm as Vanguard's U.S. dividend funds. Own shares before the ex-dividend date and the cash lands a few business days later:

The last two December ex-dates were December 20, 2024 and December 19, 2025, so I'd expect the next one around December 18, 2026. Vanguard announces the exact amount right before the ex-date. Last December paid $0.9385 and the one before paid $0.9647, so something in that neighborhood is a fair guess. It's a guess, not a promise.

Same reminder I give on every dividend post: the share price drops by about the dividend on the ex-date. Buying the day before just to "catch" the payment doesn't make you money.

Why the VYMI dividend jumps around so much

Look at those 2026 numbers again. $0.71, then $1.26, then $0.82. That's not a mistake, and it's not a cut. It's how international dividends work.

Most U.S. companies pay quarterly, so a fund like $VYM gets a pretty even stream. A lot of European, Japanese and Australian companies pay once or twice a year instead, and many of those big payments come in the spring. $VYMI collects all of that and passes it on, so the June check is reliably the biggest of the year and March is usually the smallest. It's been that way every single year in the data below.

Currency matters too. $VYMI's companies pay in euros, pounds, yen, francs and so on, and Vanguard converts that into dollars. When the dollar is weak, your dividend gets a boost. When the dollar is strong, it shrinks, even if the companies didn't change a thing. That's a real source of income volatility you don't get with a U.S.-only fund.

My advice: judge $VYMI on the full year, never on one quarter. If you budget around this income, plan for the yearly total and let June cover the lighter months.

VYMI dividend history: is the payout growing?

Here's what $VYMI paid per share each calendar year, counted by ex-dividend date:

This is better than I expected the first time I ran it. From 2022 to 2025 the payout went from $2.80 to $3.32 a share, about 18% more income in three years. That beats $VYM, whose payout was basically flat over the same stretch.

And 2026 is shaping up to be a big year. The first three payments add up to $2.78 a share versus $2.38 for the same three quarters of 2025. That's about 17% more income, helped by both company dividend growth and a softer dollar. If December lands near last year's $0.94, the 2026 total would be around $3.72 a share, a record.

The honest caveat: international payouts don't go up in a straight line. Currency swings and the lumpier dividend calendar mean you will see down years. It's growth on average, not every year.

What VYMI holds

$VYMI tracks the FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index. It takes stocks from developed and emerging markets outside the U.S., keeps the ones expected to pay above-average dividends over the next year, and weights them by market cap. As of September 30, 2026, that was 1,553 holdings.

The top 10 make up only about 14% of the fund, so no single company can sink it:

You can see the personality of the fund right there: banks, energy, pharma, consumer staples and miners. Big, boring, cash-gushing businesses. That's what high yield looks like outside the U.S., because there's far less tech in these markets than in the S&P 500.

A couple of numbers I like: the fund's P/E is around 13 according to StockAnalysis, way cheaper than the U.S. market, and the TopDividendETFsPRO database shows price decay: none with a total return of +201% since launch, dividends reinvested. The fee is 0.07%, about $7 a year on $10,000.

VYMI taxes: foreign withholding and qualified dividends

This is the part people forget to think about. Most countries take a cut of dividends paid to foreign investors before the money ever reaches the fund. That's called foreign withholding tax, and it's already baked into the dividends you see.

In a regular taxable brokerage account, you can usually get some of that back. Vanguard reports the foreign tax paid on your 1099-DIV, and you can claim the foreign tax credit on your return. In an IRA or 401(k), you generally can't claim it, so that withholding is just gone. That's one reason a lot of investors hold international dividend funds in taxable accounts and keep U.S. funds in retirement accounts. Ask a tax pro what makes sense for you.

As for qualified dividends, dividends from many foreign companies can qualify for the lower long-term capital gains rates (for example, companies in countries with a U.S. tax treaty), as long as you meet the holding period. But the qualified share is typically lower than a U.S. fund like $DGRO or $VYM. Vanguard publishes the exact qualified percentage each tax season, and your 1099-DIV is the final word.

VYMI dividend calculator: what does $10,000 pay?

At today's yield of 3.7%, here's what $VYMI would pay if the yield held for a year:

Remember the quarters aren't equal. On $10,000, a June payment could be well above that average and March well below it. Scale it up and $50,000 is about $1,850 a year, and $100,000 is about $3,700.

If your goal is $1,000 a month from $VYMI alone, you'd need roughly $324,300 at today's yield. That's a lot less than the roughly $521,700 you'd need in $VYM, which tells you how much more yield you're getting overseas.

And if $10,000 had gone into $VYMI at launch in 2016 with every dividend reinvested, it would be worth about $30,100 today. Reinvesting the dividends did a lot of the heavy lifting there.

VYMI vs VYM, SCHD, IDV and IDVO

Most people looking at $VYMI are deciding between it, its U.S. sibling, or a higher-yield international fund. Same $10,000 in each:

$VYMI vs $VYM: same family, same low-cost Vanguard approach. $VYMI pays meaningfully more and its payout has grown faster lately. $VYM has the longer track record and the more even quarterly checks. They actually work great together: one covers the U.S., one covers everything else.

$VYMI vs $SCHD: $SCHD has crushed it on total return since launch, and I break down why in my full SCHD review. But $SCHD is 100 U.S. stocks. If all of your dividend income comes from one country, $VYMI is the simplest way to diversify that.

$VYMI vs $IDV: $IDV yields more, but look at the price decay flag and the much lower long-run return. It's more concentrated in the highest yielders and costs 0.50%. This is a classic case where I'd rather own the lower yield with a healthy share price than chase the bigger number.

$VYMI vs $IDVO: $IDVO is a different animal. It's actively managed and adds an options overlay to pay monthly, at a much higher fee. If monthly income is the priority, my sister site MonthlyETFs.com lists every monthly payer.

To see long-run total returns side by side, ETFTotalReturns.com ranks them on equal footing, and TopDividendETFs.com has the full ranked list of dividend ETFs with price decay flags.

My take: is VYMI a good investment for income?

I've been building dividend income for over a decade, and the one mistake I see over and over is people owning only U.S. stocks without ever deciding to. $VYMI is the easiest fix I know for that, and it pays you better than the U.S. version while you wait.

• You want a higher yield without junk: about 3.7%, 1,500+ companies, a 0.07% fee and no price decay.
• Your dividend income is all U.S.: $VYMI spreads it across Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia and emerging markets.
• You invest in a taxable account: that's where you can usually claim the foreign tax credit.

Where I'd be careful: don't buy $VYMI if uneven quarterly checks will bother you, because they will be uneven. And know that the dollar can work against you for years at a time. International stocks also went through a long stretch of lagging the U.S., and that can happen again.

For me, the right way to think about it is as a piece, not the whole thing. A core U.S. dividend fund plus a slice of $VYMI is a simple, cheap, diversified income setup. If you want to see how $VYMI compares on yield, total return and price decay against 130+ other income ETFs before you decide, that's exactly what TopDividendETFsPRO is built for.

Sources

• StockAnalysis: VYMI dividend history (ex-dates, pay dates, amounts)
• StockAnalysis: VYMI holdings (holdings count and top 10 weights as of September 30, 2026)
• Vanguard: VYMI fund page (inception date, benchmark, expense ratio)
• Live yield, total return, fund size, price decay and expense ratios: TopDividendETFsPRO.com database

This article is for education only and is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Do your own research and read the fund's prospectus before investing, and talk to a tax professional about your own situation. Yields, payments and returns change, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Dividend payments as of November 4, 2026; live numbers update daily.