Several thousand, but not 38,000. The original research which came up with 38,000 didn’t recognize that its source referred to country-specific denominations as separate denominations. One could reasonably assert that the Church of Norway is the same denomination as the Church of Sweden, although they have separate leadership and thereby make denominational decisions separately. One would also presumably say that a mission church of the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States in Nigeria is the same denomination as the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States.
Why isn’t authority the simple means to determine how many separate groups there actually are? Like if one group writes to another group telling them to change something or fire someone and they obey, they are the same. If they don’t accept it, everyone recognizes they are different.
Freegards
I see most Christian denominations as different families. Are we going to just assume that there are 10 million types of families because each one isn't exactly the same?
Most Bible believing members of whatever denomination can worship effectively together in a pinch without sacrificing essential doctrine. That puts the lies of the left soundly to bed.