According to the 2002 Census, the population of Baraolt is 9,670 and has an absolute Székely Hungarian majority (9,271 (95.87%) Hungarians, 300 (3.1%) Romanians, 84 Roma, 15 others).
In Baraolt, the Hungarian language, spoken by the vast majority of locals, has co-official status alongside Romanian.
The town has one high school and a provincial hospital with 82 beds. The hospital's specialties include internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynaecology, and paediatrics; it also has an accident and emergency service.