For various nonsolvable groups G, we prove the existence of extensions of the rationals Q with Galois group G and inertia groups of order dividing ge(G), where ge(G) is the smallest exponent of a generating set for G. For these groups G, this gives the existence of number fields of degree ge(G) with an unramified G-extension. The existence of such extensions over Q for all finite groups would imply that, for every finite group G, there exists a quadratic number field admitting an unramified G-extension, as was recently conjectured. We also provide further evidence for the existence of such extensions for all finite groups, by proving their existence when Q is replaced with a function field k(t) where k is an ample field.On the other hand, It is well known that every finite group G appears as a Galois group of an unramified extension over some number field. This is obtained by realizing G as a Galois group of a tame (tamely ramified) extension L 0 /K over some number field, and finding a (not necessarily Galois) number field M which is disjoint from L 0 and satisfies: "for every prime P of M, the ramification index of P over its restriction p to K is divisible by the ramification index of p in L 0 ". Abhyankar's lemma then implies that L := L 0 M is an unramified extension of M with Gal(L/M) ∼ = G. Moreover, the resulting extension L/M is tamely defined