Vital statistics are derived from information obtained at the time when the occurrences of vital events and their characteristics are inscribed in a civil register.

Vital acts and events are the births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, and all such events that have something to do with an individual's entrance and departure from life together with the changes in civil status that may occur to a person during his lifetime. Recording of these events in the civil register is known as vital or civil registration and the resulting documents are called vital records.

The production of vital statistics comprised of a system of operations in which the registration of vital events is an important component. The system begins with the registration followed by the processing and controlling of vital records and ends with the compilation and analysis of vital statistics.

Under Commonwealth Act (CA) 591, the Bureau of Census [now National statistics Office - (NSO)] is mandated to generate general purpose statistics and to carry out and administer Act No. 3753.

Under the same law, the head of the NSO is also the Civil Registrar General (CRG) who directs and supervises the local civil registration activities in the country. The CRG in this regard is empowered to prepare and issue implementing rules and regulations on civil registration and to prepare and order printed the necessary forms for proper compliance.

The set-up of vital statistics system involves different entities and cuts across different departments and personalities.

For the registration of vital events, the Local Civil Registry Offices (LCROs), which are the registration units in the country and headed by the City/Municipal Civil Registrars (C/MCRs), are under the Local Government Units (LGUs). The hospitals, clinics, rural health units and similar institutions including barangay secretaries, practicing physicians, midwives, nurses, traditional midwives, solemnizing officers from various religious sects and denomination are required to assist in the reporting of vital events for registration at the LCROs. The concerned parents, next of kin, contracting parties, a witness or the person who has full knowledge of the occurrence of the event are also required to report the event, in default of the first mentioned set of informants.

The processing and controlling of vital documents are done at the LCROs and at the NSO Provincial and Central Offices.

The compilation and analysis of vital statistics is taken cared of by the NSO Central Office under the Vital Statistics Division (VSD) of the Civil Registration Department.

Handling of documents through automated processing of data entry, data cleaning, file updating, and generation of preliminary tables at the LCRO level are done through the use of Civil Registry Information System (CRIS). This system enhances the capability of LCROs to attend to the growing demand for birth, marriage and death certification and information on these vital events on for local and policy makers. However, only LCROs with computers are able to avail of the CRIS.

At NSO, the automation is made possible through the use of Decentralized Vital Statistics System (DVSS). For this report, two versions of DVSS were used. For the processing of January to December 2003 registrations, the DOS based DVSS was utilized while the January to March 2004 documents, the enhanced windows based DVSS called DVSS 2000 or DVSS2K, was used. Such enhancements were made possible through the civil registration system information technology project or CRS - ITP.

As mandated in Act 3753, all vital events that marked the entry and departure of a person in his lifetime and the changes in his/her civil status shall be registered. The registration method is defined as the continuous, permanents and compulsory recording of the occurrences and characteristics of vital events, primarily for their value as legal documents and secondary for their usefulness as a source of statistics.

Place where to register the event

As a general rule, the place of registration is the LCRO of the city of municipality where the vital events occur.

Out of town reporting of vital event occurs when the documents presented to the civil registrar of LCRO, which is not the place of occurrence, not for registration but to be forwarded to the civil registrar of LCRO where the event occurred and where it should be registered.

Forms to use

The civil register consists of certificates (see Appendix B) and the registry book. It also includes the actual copies of the registrable court decisions and the legal instruments concerning the civil status of persons. The certificates are loose-leaf forms in a set of four copies except for the Certificate of Foundling which is in a set of three.

Person who will report the event

The informant is the one who reports the event for registration and who gives information to be recorded in the civil register.

In case of live birth, the law requires the hospital or clinic administrator or his representative if the birth occurred in the hospital or clinic. If the birth occurred elsewhere, the attendant who may either be a physician, nurse, license midwife or traditional birth attendant makes the report. In default of the hospital authority, or the attendant, the responsibility of reporting the births devolves upon either or both parents or upon a person who has full knowledge of the facts of birth and filiation of the child.

For death occurrences, the report shall be made by the hospital or clinic administrator if the person dies in the hospital or clinic, or by attending physician or by the nearest relative or by any interested party who has knowledge of the occurrence of death. In all cases, the report shall be submitted to the Local Health Officer (LHO) who shall direct and order the C/MCR to enter the death in the civil register.

In case of marriages, the solemnizing officer is required by law to report the event. In default of the solemnizing officer, the duty is lodged upon contracting parties.

Period when to report the event

Live births shall be reported for registration to C/MCR not later than thirty (30) days from the date of birth.

Death or fetal death shall be reported to LHO within forty eight (48) hours from the time of death and the LHO shall direct or cause the registration to the C/MCR not later than thirty (30) days from date of death.

Marriages that require the issuance of marriages license shall be reported to C/MCR for registration not later than fifteen (15) days from date of marriage. However, marriages that do not require a license such as marriage at the point of death (Article 27); marriages in remote places (Article 28); marriages between members of ethnic cultural community (Article 33); and marriages between men and women who have lived together for at least five (5) years (Article 34), shall be reported not later than thirty (30) day after date of marriage.

Any report made to the LCROs beyond the reglementary period are considered late and can be entered only in the civil register after the informant complies with the requirements for delayed registration.

Operative Act of Registration

The C/MCR sees to it that appropriate form it used; form is properly and completely filled-up; and proper attachments are submitted. In case, the entries are found incomplete, the C/MCR has to require the person concerned to fill up the document completely or to correct the entries.

When the document is accepted for registration, the date of receipt is recorded in the space provided and the documents received for the day are entered immediately in the appropriate civil registry book, assigning therein the corresponding registry number. After registration entry/entries found erroneous can only be corrected through RA 9048, except sex, nationality, age and status which require court approval.

Distribution of registered documents

Upon registration, the C/MCR distributes the copies accordingly: the first copy to the informant; the second copy to the CRG; the third copy shall be retained by the LCRO; and the fourth copy to the attendant or solemnizing officer, as the case may be. The CRG copy is the source of vital statistics published in this report.

Significant terminologist and descriptions in the foregoing highlights and tables are defined below. Included are some items found in the certificates and summary measure used in describing the facts of events.

Live Birth is a complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, which after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered liveborn.

Marriage is a contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life.

Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after live birth has taken place (postnatal cessation of vital function without capability of resuscitation).

Fetal Death refers to death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction of a product of conception from its mother, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated by the fact that after such separation, the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, and definite movement of voluntary muscles.

Early Neonatal Death refers to death among live births during the first 7 days of life.

Infant Mortality refers to deaths of infants under one year of age.

Perinatal Mortality refers to the deaths of fetuses, weighing at least 5oo grams or had 22 completed weeks of gestation, and of infants 7 days 0f age.

Maternal Mortality refers to the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.

Neonatal Mortality refers to deaths among live births during the first 28 completed days of life.

Crude Birth Rate (CBR) refers to the number of live births per 1,000 mid-year population.

Crude Marriage Rate (CMR) is a gross measure of the level of the relative frequency of marriages in an area for a given year. It expresses additions, by the formal means of legal marriage, being made to the married segment of the total population. This refers to the number of marriages per 1,000 mid-year population.

Crude Death Rate (CDR) refers to the number of deaths per 1,000 mid-year population.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) refers to the number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) refers to the number of maternal deaths in a given year per 100,000 live births in that year.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) refers to the average number of children a woman would have by the time she reached age of 50, if she were to experience the Average Specific Fertility Rates of a given year.

Age Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR) refers to the number of live births born to woman of a given age or age group by the mid-year female population of the same age or age group during the same year. This refers to average number of births per 1,000 females of specific age group.

Crude Rate of Natural Increase (CRNI) refers to the difference between crude birth rate and crude death rate.

Natural Increase refers to the excess of births over deaths.

Birth Order refers to the numerical order of a child in relation to all previous pregnancies of the mother.

Daily Average refers to the arithmetic mean of birth, death or marriage occurrences per day.

Daily Index is the increase/decrease from the overall daily average of event occurrences.

Period of Gestation refers to the number of completed weeks which have elapsed between the first day of the last normal menstrual period and the date of delivery irrespective of whether the product of conception was live-born or born without evidence of life.

Sex Ratio refers to the number of males per one hundred females.

Usual Residence refers to the place where the person habitually or permanently resides.

Place of Occurrence refers to the place where the vital event took place.

This report contains statistical tables and the highlights covering the three vital events - marriages, births, and deaths.

Vital registration is a continuous process. Hence, there is a need to establish certain cut-off period. The data presented are vital events that occurred in 2003 and were registered in January 2003 to March 2004. Events occurring in 2003 but were registered beyond March 2004 were no longer included in the generation of 2003 Vital Statistics.

Some statistical tables are presented by Region, Province and Cities. All Regions were subdivided by provinces and cities while the National Capital Region is by Districts.

For interpretation of data, caution is necessary since information presented is not adjusted for under registration. Observed marked fluctuations in vital events for specific areas may not necessarily reflect differentials, but rather an indication of variations in registration/registered submission of events.