The living community that gathers around Ayyavazhi is not easily captured by official statistics, because most of its practitioners are recorded under broad Hindu categories in census data. Scholarly and community estimates therefore become the primary guide, and these tend to converge on a range rather than a single figure. The most consistent estimates suggest that Ayyavazhi has roughly between 700,000 and 1 million adherents, with some broader assessments extending this to the low millions. This uncertainty itself reflects the fluid boundary between Ayyavazhi and the wider Hindu milieu from which it emerged. What can be said with confidence is that it remains a distinctly regional tradition, deeply rooted in the social and spiritual landscape of the far south of the Indian subcontinent.

Geographically, Ayyavazhi is concentrated above all in South India, especially in Tamil-speaking areas. Its heartland lies in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, particularly Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, with additional communities in other parts of the state. Closely linked communities are also found in the southern regions of Kerala, especially in and around Thiruvananthapuram and other areas along the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border. These are predominantly rural and semi-urban populations, for whom Ayyavazhi functions as both a devotional path and a shared cultural identity. The pattern of settlement mirrors the historical spread of the movement from its nineteenth‑century origins in this border region.

Beyond this core area, Ayyavazhi extends more quietly through scattered communities and diaspora networks. Smaller groups of adherents live in other parts of Tamil Nadu and in neighboring regions, where they maintain ties to the main centers of worship. Outside India, there are small but notable communities among Tamil populations in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries that have received Tamil migrants, including parts of the Gulf. In these settings, Ayyavazhi often travels alongside Tamil language and culture, sustaining a sense of continuity with the tradition’s southern Indian roots. Thus, while numerically modest on the global stage, the tradition’s presence is woven tightly into the fabric of Tamil religious life both at home and abroad.