A method (700, 800) of polar coding at a transmitting wireless communication device (202, 204), comprising: accessing (702, 802) a master sequence of final bit locations maintained in order of reliability, wherein the master sequence has a maximum length, N max, and is generated utilizing density evolution and nested over a code rate vector comprising a plurality of code rates having a same rate level m which constitutes a same code rate denominator, whereby 1 < m < N max, wherein the density evolution is performed over a range of signal-to-noise ratios, SNRs, and a bit error probability, BEP, of each bit location within a codeword of length N max for each SNR within the range of SNRs is calculated and for each code rate R i in the code rate vector an optimal BEP sequence is selected by selecting the K i best bit locations at each SNR, where K i = N max. R i and for each SNR a block error rate, BLER, is calculated based on the BEPs of the K i best bit locations and wherein an SNR is selected based on the calculated BLER for each rate R i in the code rate vector, wherein the master sequence is then generated using a nested selection of bit locations between the selected SNRs; generating (704, 804) a bit location sequence from the master sequence for an information block comprising a block length less than the maximum length, wherein the bit location sequence comprises a number of the final bit locations corresponding to the block length arranged in order of reliability according to the master sequence; identifying (706, 812) information bit locations and frozen bit locations in the information block based on the bit location sequence; placing (708, 814) information bits in the information bit locations of the information block and frozen bits in the frozen bit locations of the information block; polar coding (710, 816) the information block to produce a polar codeword; and transmitting (712, 818) the polar codeword to a receiving wireless communication device (202, 204) over a wireless air interface. accessing (702, 802) a master sequence of final bit locations maintained in order of reliability, wherein the master sequence has a maximum length, N max, and is generated utilizing density evolution and nested over a code rate vector comprising a plurality of code rates having a same rate level m which constitutes a same code rate denominator, whereby 1 < m < N max, wherein the density evolution is performed over a range of signal-to-noise ratios, SNRs, and a bit error probability, BEP, of each bit location within a codeword of length N max for each SNR within the range of SNRs is calculated and for each code rate R i in the code rate vector an optimal BEP sequence is selected by selecting the K i best bit locations at each SNR, where K i = N max. R i and for each SNR a block error rate, BLER, is calculated based on the BEPs of the K i best bit locations and wherein an SNR is selected based on the calculated BLER for each rate R i in the code rate vector, wherein the master sequence is then generated using a nested selection of bit locations between the selected SNRs; generating (704, 804) a bit location sequence from the master sequence for an information block comprising a block length less than the maximum length, wherein the bit location sequence comprises a number of the final bit locations corresponding to the block length arranged in order of reliability according to the master sequence; identifying (706, 812) information bit locations and frozen bit locations in the information block based on the bit location sequence; placing (708, 814) information bits in the information bit locations of the information block and frozen bits in the frozen bit locations of the information block; polar coding (710, 816) the information block to produce a polar codeword; and transmitting (712, 818) the polar codeword to a receiving wireless communication device (202, 204) over a wireless air interface.