The coexistence of people and groups marked by ethnic, social, cultural, geographic, religious and linguistic diversity is a topic that continues to generate controversy in contemporary societies. The "Gypsy issue" is an inescapable fact that pierces the borders of different European countries, raising controversies and ambivalences in multicultural and / or intercultural said societies and guided by the principle of universalism. In Portugal, despite the social and economic transformations in the Portuguese population in general and Ciganos in particular, however, problems of exclusion and poverty among the Ciganos people continue to be referred to as the poor, with poorer housing conditions, less educated and the main target of racism and discrimination. With the purpose of drafting a national picture of Ciganos in Portugal, we were coordinating a national study in the context of the National Strategy for Roma, which combined the qualitative and quantitative approach (document analysis, in-depth interviews, Delphi method, questionnaire surveys applied to Ciganos, experts such as investigators, mediators and technicians of social intervention). The main objective of this paper is to present the main results obtained by applying a survey among Ciganos and discuss the continuities and social and spatial differences between Ciganos in the portuguese territory. The results obtained from the national study support the hyphotesis that the situation of Ciganos is still largely poverty and social exclusion. Low education, unemployment, informal labor, low incomes and poor housing conditions and health complications persist, with few cases of Ciganos persons work in a formal economy and with stable monthly income. It was possible to apprehend slight regional nuances and which relate to a large extent with singularities which mark the territorial socio insertion of these families, and it is related to conviviality between Ciganos e no Ciganos and to the site and policies that host society have been mobilized by the authorities and by other local institutions and services. There remains some diversity of social profiles and territorial trends, which does not fail to indicate a certain socio-economic diversity of people and Ciganos families.

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