As of 2006, conservationists have labeled polar bears a vulnerable species.

Hi,
I'm interested in your question.

My dictionaries say "as of" means "starting from a particular time or date and continuing".
However, I've always seen it used with another meaning, something like "considering the situation at this point in time".

As of 2006, conservationists have labeled polar bears a vulnerable species. = this was the situation in 2006.

I usually see it used in sentences like:
As of 2006, Wikipedia has about 370,000 articles in Italian.

So I wonder what this "as of" is really supposed to mean. Let's wait for the natives.

Hmm, is that the only meaning of "as of"?
I think I often come across another meaning, which to me seems "considering the situation at that point in time...".
Some examples:

By Brian Santo, Editor - CedMagazine.com - October 01, 2007
[...] As of June, there were approximately 65.5 million cable subscribers, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). [...]
http://www.cedmagazine.com/Article-Digital-Transition-Losing-Proposition.aspx

By Rick Moore - November 16, 2007
[...] As of September, there were nearly 8.3 million articles in 253 languages available to users worldwide via the Web. [...]
http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/New_information_on_Wikipedia.html

[...] As of 2005, the government had licensed 262 banks and trust companies in the bahamas. [...]
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1857.htm

I also see it in titles like "Situation as of 2005". In all this cases, interpreting it as "starting from" doesn't make sense to me. It's not something that is true from a particualr moment on... it's true at that moment and it is also expexted to vary in the future.

So, does anybody know how to explain this? I'm kind of confused... Thanks

Ah! Then I'm not completely nuts! Because it seems no learner's dictionary lists that meaning...

Thanks a lot.

Thanks, kooyeen and Jim.

Got it.