But although the companies in the FTSE 250 dividends may have increased at a faster rate, they only paid out £5.1bn last year compared to a whopping £49.8bn by FTSE 100 companies.

"The pharmaceuticals sector is a good one for dividends as it has the ability to grow it's dividend," said Mr Kirrage. "AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN.L - news) is looking cheap at the moment and is a quality stock."

Bill Mott, fund manager of PSigma Income agrees. "Twenty years ago, it would have been hard for an income-orientated fund to own anything in the Pharmaceutical sector. These were go-go growth stocks on big premium valuations and dividend payments were minimal. Now GlaxoSmithKline has a price-to-earnings ratio that is barely double digit and a yield of 5.5pc. We think that the whole sector is now seriously undervalued. We have 6.3pc of the fund in GlaxoSmithKline and 3.8pc in AstraZeneca too.

Eoin Treacy's view Well established globally oriented healthcare companies are well represented in lists of dividend aristocrats, last posted in Comment of the Day on February 2nd. Astra Zeneca with a dividend yield of 5.22% and forward P/E of 7.45 appears on the European Dividend aristocrat list. Therefore not only does it have potential to increase its dividend but also has a solid record of maintaining it.

The share has been in a broad range for much of the last 11 years. It found support near the lower side in March 2008 and has since rallied to test the upper side. It continues to hold the almost three-year progression of higher major reaction lows and a sustained move below 2800p would be required to question medium-term potential for continued higher to lateral ranging.