In 2017 the Philippines Statistical Authority (PSA) implemented Iris, an automated software program which assigns codes from the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) to death records, and assists in the selection of an underlying cause of death. This replaces the previous process where mortality coding rules were applied manually.

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.