By comparison, Canada's national average of pre-term birth rate was 8.1%.
22.7% of babies born in Nunavut were to teenage mothers, compared to 4.8% nationally (excluding Quebec).
Babies born early are more likely to be small and develop health problems later in life.
"Certainly for the small babies — the low birth weight babies — smoking is a definite risk factor," said Dr. Geraldine Osborne. "We know that we have very high rates of smoking among pregnant women in Nunavut. Roughly around 80% of pregnant women smoke."
She added that pregnant women are smoking more cigarettes than ever.
Osborne said other factors include poor nutrition, unsteady food supplies in many Nunavut households, and a high rate of teenage pregnancy.
Osborne said one of Nunavut's health goals is to improve healthy birth rates. This means reducing the numbers of pre-term and low-weight babies and reducing the number of teen pregnancies.