Women in Scotland are missing out on £6.5bn despite the country's closing gender pay gap.

New figures from PwC show that if the Scottish gender pay gap sits at 15%.

It has also been revealed that if the gap closed female earnings would increase by 18% - an extra £5,300 per head, per year.

This would cost Scotland £6.5bn, according to statistics from professional services firm, Women in Work.

Scotland is ahead of countries such as Germany (22%), USA (19%), Japan (26%) and Korea (36%). 

Although it sits behind Italy and Poland-both with a 7% pay gap.

The UK as a whole sits 13th out of 33 countries under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

PwC predicts that it will be the year 2040 before the pay gap in Scotland closes.

Scottish women are statistically more likely to work in lower paid sectors than men.

Matthew Cooper, of PwC in Scotland, said: “While it is encouraging to see that the gender pay gap in Scotland at 15 per cent is lower than the UK average of 17 per cent, there remains work to do with specific challenges in some of Scotland’s key industries such as financial services and oil and gas where the gender pay gap remains higher.

The increased focus on pay gap reporting gives employers the opportunity to set out the actions they are taking to address the pay gap as well as their wider strategy on diversity and inclusion. Taking accountability and delivering changes is what is needed from Scottish employers to continue the process toward removing gender pay ­inequality.”