The civil registration system is organized by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Division, which is a division of the Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS), responsible for the production of vital statistics. There are two offices, one on each of the main islands, and families are required to present to the office in person, for both birth and death registration. Both electronic and paper registration are used, but there is a regularly updated central database.

In 2013, a CRVS committee was established, with stakeholders from the SBS, Ministry of Health, National Health Services, Ministry of Woman community and Social development, Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Ministry of Police, and Ministry of Education Sports and Culture. It allowed for progress in communication of births in health facilities, and assessment of cause of death.  It developed a National CRVS Improvement Plan that it has since been implementing.

Births must be notified to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Division within 14 days, or in the case of the Director General of Health, no later than 28 days. In the case of death registration, families must notify the Registrar within 14 days from the date of the funeral. Births and Deaths Certificates are subject to a WST $15 fee, which is increased to WST $35 in case of late birth registration.

In 2017, birth registration was estimated to be 65% complete within 1 year of birth, 75% complete within 5 years, and 85% of the total population was estimated to have had their birth registered. For death registration, it was estimated to be 88% complete within 1 year of death, while cause of death from a medical certificate was provided for approximately 70% of all deaths. ICD-10 has been adopted, and training is provided to medical practitioners through partners.