Aside from some tricky and as-yet-unresolved geopolitical issues in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, on the whole, the road to recovery in 2014 has been fairly steady. But for income investors the search for yield remains a difficult task.

There may be an economic recovery, but it is still a low-growth environment and central bank policy remains extremely accommodative, a fact underlined by Mario Draghi’s surprise announcement on September 4 of an asset-purchasing programme and a “final” rate cut to an unprecedented 0.05 per cent and its deposit rate to -0.2 per cent.

So with bond yields low and virtually no return on cash, investors are naturally turning to the equity market. But with traditional income stocks under pressure, such as Tesco’s struggles with its earnings and the levying of an $18bn fine on BP over its ‘negligence’ in relation to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, where should investors be looking?

Many point to the fact that equity income is no longer just about the blue-chip stocks, and investors need to adapt to the changing world and branch out – not just to different areas of the market cap, but also to alternative industries and even to different regions.

For example, the latest Henderson Global Dividend Index notes that while the largest proportion of dividends paid in the second quarter of this year came from the US and European countries, the fourth- and fifth-largest payouts came from Asia.

Japan recorded total dividends of $25.2bn, while Hong Kong accounted for $20.6bn.

In the past five years, Asia has substantially overtaken the UK in terms of dividend payouts, and with emerging markets looking to regain their stability, improvements in corporate governance and regulation suggest this could be the next fertile ground for dividends.

While investors are continuing to seek income, especially with pension changes in the UK making it likely more people will be investing for longer, it pays to think outside the box.

Nyree Stewart is features editor at Investment Adviser