The monthly reports will be mandatory from next April and will be available on a new national safety website. The aim is to allow patients to see if hospitals are meeting adequate staffing levels.
In a speech to a group of MPs, Hunt will propose the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) draw up a "toolkit" that outlines minimum staffing levels according to ward size, acuteness of patient illness, age profile and other factors.
NHS trusts will then be required by law to publish staffing figures in each ward and be subject to health inspections by the Care Quality Commission if they are not meeting the guidelines.
The plans are part of the Government's response to the inquiry into the mid-Staffordshire scandal earlier this year, in which hundreds of patients are believed to have died as a result of poor care.
In total, 290 recommendations were put forward and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to say most of them have been accepted.
Health minister Norman Lamb said: "We are determined to see the NHS become a world leader in patient safety, with a safety ethos and level of transparency that matches the airline industry.
"We need transparency on staffing levels, backed up by a strong inspection regime to get better, safer care."
Hospitals in England will also have to disclose the percentage of shifts that meet safe staffing guidelines independently approved by the health watchdog NICE.
Hunt is also expected to announce an extra 3,700 nurses for the NHS in England. Last week, the Royal College of Nursing said patient safety was at risk with almost 20,000 nursing vacancies unfilled in England.
The union claimed "the hidden workforce crisis" could have serious consequences for the NHS and patient care.
