Embodiments of the present invention provide a polar code rate matching method and a polar code rate matching apparatus. The method includes: performing matrix-based BRO interleaving on a non-systematic polar code output by a polar code encoder, to obtain interleaved bits; and determining, based on the interleaved bits, a rate-matched output sequence. According to the embodiments of the present invention, matrix-based BRO interleaving is performed on a non-systematic polar code, to obtain a rate-matched output sequence, so that a sequence structure after interleaving is more random, which can reduce an FER, thereby improving HARQ performance and ensuring reliability of data transmission.