A method and apparatus for allocating downlink resources and implementing downlink data reception in a broadband evolution system are disclosed in the present invention, so as to implement the allocation of resources in case of carrier resource expansion and implement the reception of downlink data in case of carrier resource expansion. A method for receiving downlink data includes that: emission bandwidth resources are divided into multiple frequency-domain Resource Blocks (RBs), and every frequency-domain Resource Block (RB) corresponds to an RB serial number, wherein the frequency-domain RBs corresponding to Release-8 (Rel-8) compatible frequency-domain resources are numbered in a numbering mode of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and the frequency-domain RBs corresponding to incompatible frequency-domain resources are orderly numbered based on the largest serial number corresponding to the Rel-8 compatible frequency-domain resources; when receiving a downlink control signaling including RB serial numbers transferred from a network side, a broadband evolution terminal obtains frequency-domain RBs corresponding to the RB serial numbers, and can receive downlink data from the obtained frequency-domain RBs.