With the docking of the latest Soyuz last week, the crew size of ISS increased from three to six. Six is planned to be the crew size for the duration of the station.
That is actually quite a number. Maintaining six humans beyond Earth for years has never been done before. With the retirement of the shuttle, that maintenance will be done by unmanned supply ships, Soyuz capsules for crew rotation, and, possibly, privately owned and operated craft. The American Orion would not be ready until 2015.
The rationale behind a six-persn crew is tied to realizing the potential of ISS. It was designed-- and sold to Congress-- as a world-class research lab in space. Scientific breakthroughs were supposed to justify the station's cost. That hasn't happened so far. Doubling the crew is supposed to increase the science coming from ISS. It will also give humanity experience in dealing with fairly large space crews, which will be a plus as we prepare to establish a permanent base on the Moon and move on to Mars.
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