A method and apparatus are provided for transmitting control information in a base station for a wireless communication system. The method includes receiving, from a terminal, a channel quality indicator (CQI); determining at least one control channel element (CCE) for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) based on the received CQI and an identifier (ID) of the terminal; and transmitting, to the terminal, control information on the PDCCH including the determined at least one CCE. A number of the at least one CCE is determined based on the CQI.