The population at the previous 2015 census was 1,011, most of whom (98.5%) are Protestants of Kiribati Uniting Church (KUC) and all of them are I-Kiribati (no declared mixed races or others).

The government station, with Island Council, schools and services, is located midway, between the two villages, at Taribo.

Each village has its KUC church at the centre, the most notable infrastructural features on the atoll, at Tamaroa and Roreti.

Arorae was first sighted in 1809 by Captain John Patterson of the British vessel, Elizabeth and called Hope Island.

For the Kanakas, the years of blackbirding in the mid-19th Century came slowly to an end in 1870 upon the arrival of the London Missionary Society (Protestant) missionaries, from Samoa, who were able to give some protection against the black birders, together with the establishment of the British Western Pacific Territories, and especially the Pacific Islanders Protection Act of 1872 (the Kidnapping Act) and the Act of 1875 — which provided for agents on British recruiting vessels, stricter licensing procedures, and patrol of British-controlled islands; these Acts reduced the incidence of blackbirding by British subjects, but because of the continuing heavy demand for labour in Queensland, however, the practice continued.

Because it is a more remote outer-island within the Gilbert line of the Republic of Kiribati, it is known for maintaining a more traditional culture held together mostly under the authority of "unimwane" (village elders).

[2] At the northern tip of Arorae is a set of stones (circa 1000–1500 AD) that mark out the initial directions for voyages to the other islands - Tamana, Nikunau, Beru and Onotoa.

In 2011, a total of 198 children were enrolled in the Tiona Primary School and 103 students were attending the Arorae JSS.