A recent study has found that women may not have equal pay for sex for at least two and a half centuries more.

The World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Gender Report 2020 has predicted that women will have to wait 257 years to get paid the same as men.

The Global Gender Gap Index has been measuring gender-based gaps in education, health, politics and economics since 2006.

The Independent reports that the latest study found that women have to wait an average of 99.5 years to see equality with men in all four categories, which improved from 108 years in 2018.

Data from 153 countries were used to determine how salaries are divided by gender between men and women. Iceland was the first, closing 88% of the overall gender gap. Followed by Norway, Finland, Sweden and Nicaragua, which closed the gap by more than 80%.

The United Kingdom dropped six positions compared to last year, ranking 21st on the list, with Yemen ranked the lowest.

Rachel Thomas, of LeanIn.Org which promotes women's equality rights, told Reuters: "The findings of the World Economic Forum are discouraging, but not surprising. Companies must take bold steps to ensure that the employment processes theirs are fair and inclusive and provide women with training and sponsorship so that they can advance in all areas of action where they operate. "