A local hospital would like additional funding from the city government for health care. What data point would most effectively support this request?

Rising infant mortality suggests that more infants are dying, which points to a worsening health-care problem and supports the hospital’s request for more funding. The rate increased from 13.4 to 14.1 percent over five years. The other choices describe improving literacy, declining maternal mortality, or rising life expectancy, so they do not show the same worsening health outcome.

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