ASX 200 healthcare shares are up 0.47% amid a strong day for the Australian share market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 1.05% at the time of writing, as the first week of earnings season continues on Thursday.
With dividend announcements on investors' minds, let's check out the forecast for ASX 200 healthcare dividends this year.
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Dividend forecasts for ASX 200 healthcare shares
Let's take a look at the forecast 2025 dividend yields for ASX 200 healthcare shares.
In this article, we'll focus on the top 10 ASX 200 healthcare shares by market capitalisation.
The following chart shows the consensus analysts' forecasts for 2025 dividends, as published on the CommSec trading platform today.
We've calculated the dividend yields these forecasts equate to based on share prices at the time of writing.
We've also included the dividend amounts paid in 2024 so you can compare them to the 2025 predictions.
These ASX 200 healthcare shares are listed in order of market cap from largest to smallest.
| ASX 200 healthcare share | 2024 dividend | Forecast 2025 dividend | Yield |
| CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) | $3.986 | $3.706 | 1.36% |
| Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) | 40 cents | 54.5 cents | 0.19% |
| ResMed CDI (ASX: RMD) | 29.7 cents | 31.2 cents | 0.81% |
| Cochlear Ltd (ASX: COH) | $4.10 | $4.45 | 1.41% |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd (ASX: FPH) | 38.1 cents | 38.9 cents | 1.24% |
| Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL) | $1.06 | $1.09 | 3.85% |
| Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX: RHC) | 80 cents | 88.5 cents | 2.61% |
| EBOS Group Ltd (ASX: EBO) | $1.096 | 89.4 cents | 2.39% |
| Ansell Ltd (ASX: ANN) | 58 cents | 63.7 cents | 1.84% |
So, Sonic Healthcare is expected to pay the highest dividend yield of this group in 2025.
The pathology and radiology provider will announce its 1H FY25 results and interim dividend on 20 February.
What's up with the low dividends?
As you can see, the ASX 200 healthcare sector generally does not pay high dividend yields.
In 2024, dividends made up just 1.5% of the healthcare sector's total return of 7.51%.
One reason healthcare stocks do not pay high dividends is the capital investment required to keep these businesses going.
Healthcare companies spend a lot of money on the research and development (R&D) of new medicines, technological advancements, and maintenance of expensive equipment.
This is particularly true of the ASX biotechs, such as CSL, which need a huge amount of capital to develop drugs and conduct medical trials in order to gain approval for public use.
