[2] The Neues Deutschland that existed in East Germany had a circulation of 1.1 million as of 1989 and was the communist party's main way to show citizens its stances and opinions about politics, economics, etc.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Neues Deutschland has lost 99 percent of its readership and has a circulation of 16,028 as of 2022.

The newspaper was both politically and financially tied to one of its former owners, The Left (Die Linke), which owned the publishing house and printing presses until the end of 2021.

[5] While Neues Deutschland was the SED's Zentralorgan, its journalists were recruited from the party's broad membership.

[6] Before the reunification of Germany in October 1990, ND had a circulation of a million and was second only to the youth newspaper junge Welt in readership.

While most large newspapers in Germany have a problem with declining circulation, ND is particularly vulnerable in that the majority of its readers are over 60 years old.

[2] ND is now oriented towards a democratic socialist viewpoint and was owned partially by the political party The Left, a direct descendant of the SED.

The twin goals of the newspaper are to give those in eastern Germany a voice and to represent the democratic socialist viewpoint without being the organ of The Left or any other political party.