Officials will keep track of people from soon after birth until well into their adult lives to 'expose stark gaps in life chances,' Nick Clegg will announce.
An annual snapshot of social mobility in Britain will be published 'to expose stark gaps in life chances', according to the Deputy Prime Minister.
A raft of new measures designed to track government progress in making society fairer are to be announced.
These will include charting children's development.
It will be the first time that any government in the world has published such information, according to the Cabinet Office.
Mr Clegg said: "These are challenging times but that doesn't mean we can give up on making society fairer and helping people get on in life.
"In the past year, since we published the Government's first social mobility strategy, we've made great progress - schoolchildren are benefiting from a cash injection through the Pupil Premium, young people are getting into jobs and training through the Youth Contract, and we're expanding the number of families who get free childcare.
"We must create a more dynamic society. One where what matters most is the person you become, not the person you were born.
"Government cannot do this alone, but we must take the lead. So we're exposing the stark gaps in life chances by publishing a wide range of tracking data to show how well society is doing here and now.
"No government has done this. The data shows we've got a long way to go, but that's why it's there - to hold a flame to our feet until the gaps close. It's not an overnight fix, but it is a long term ambition that is achievable."
The 17 trackers are included in the Government's first update on its social mobility strategy Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Social Mobility.
They will focus mainly on early years development but will continue into working age.
Among the areas to be measured are school readiness - the proportion of children on free school meals achieving a good level of development in the early years foundation stage compared to other children.
Officials will also look at attainment at 16 by free school meal eligibility and higher education enrolment by social background.
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And they will measure the proportion of the working-age population employed in higher-level occupations according to social background, defined using their fathers' occupational group.
Some of the early school-related monitoring will be drawn from information that is available in England only, officials said.
The Government insists it has taken significant action to tackle inequality over the last two years by targeting money in education to help the most disadvantaged.
It also created the independent Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, which began its work earlier this month.
