The year 2022 as a whole could easily be attributed to the Russia-Ukraine war, red-hot inflation and rising-rate worries after an upbeat 2021. No wonder, such worries caused an upheaval in the market in the first quarter of 2022 (read: Top ETF Stories of Q1 Worth a Watch in Q2).

In Q1, Wall Street witnessed its worst performance in two years. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 lost 4.6% and 4.9%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 9% in the first quarter (read: U.S. Stocks Log Worst Q1 in 2 Years: Top-Ranked ETFs Shine).

If this was not enough, heightened rising rate worries amid super-hawkish cues from the Fed has bummed out Wall Street to start the second quarter. Overall, the S&P 500 is down 5.8% this year (as of Apr 8, 2022). The Nasdaq Composite is off 12.4%, the Dow Jones has lost 4.5% while the Russell 2000 has skidded 11.2% year to date.

Surprisingly, the year 2022 bodes well for international equity ETFs, though mostly in the dividend segment. The long-term bond yields were suppressed in the first quarte due to the risk-off trade sentiments (instigated by the Russia-Ukraine war).

As a result, investors desire for higher current income amid sky-high global inflation made dividend ETFs a clear winner. High-dividend low-volatility investing or dividend aristocrat investing gained prominence in the quarter.

In a nutshell, several foreign dividend ETFs offered better returns in Q1 than the S&P 500. We expect the trend to stay strong in Q2. Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few international dividend ETF winners of 2022 so far that have breezed past the S&P 500.

ETFs in Focus

Invesco International Dividend Achievers ETF (PID Quick QuotePID - Free Report) – Up 7.7%; Yields 2.80%

Here also, Canada takes half of the fund, followed by the United Kingdom.

Xtrackers MSCI EAFE High Dividend Yield Equity ETF (HDEF Quick QuoteHDEF - Free Report) – Up 3.7%; Yields 5.47%

The HDEF is heavy on Great Britain, followed by China and Japan.

WisdomTree International High Dividend Fund (DTH Quick QuoteDTH - Free Report) – Up 3.6%; Yields 4.82%

Australia, Japan and U.K. are the top three holdings of the fund

Legg Mason International Low Volatility High Dividend ETF (LVHI Quick QuoteLVHI - Free Report) – Up 3.5%; Yields 5.10%

U.K., Japan and Canada are the top three holdings of the fund.

iShares International Select Dividend ETF (IDV Quick QuoteIDV - Free Report) – Up 2.0%; Yields 5.51%

The United Kingdom takes about 21.75% of the fund.

SPDR S&P International Dividend ETF (DWX Quick QuoteDWX - Free Report) – Up 1.1%; Yields 3.53%

Canada, Switzerland and Japan are the top sectors of the fund.

VictoryShares International High Dividend Volatility Weighted ETF – Up 0.95%; Yields 4.82%

Canada, United Kingdom and Japan take the double-digit weight in the fund.

Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF – Up 0.26% Yields 4.40%

Europe takes about 49.80% of the fund, followed by Asia (27.96%).